Dream-Love
Young Love lies sleepingIn May-time of the year,Among the lilies,Lapped in the tender light:White lambs come grazing,White doves come building there:And round about himThe May-bushes are white.
Soft moss the pillowFor oh, a softer cheek;Broad leaves cast shadowUpon the heavy eyes:There winds and watersGrow lulled and scarcely speak;There twilight lingersThe longest in the skies.
Young Love lies dreaming;But who shall tell the dream?A perfect sunlightOn rustling forest tips;Or perfect moonlightUpon a rippling stream;Or perfect silence,Or song of cherished lips.
Burn odours round himTo fill the drowsy air;Weave silent dancesAround him to and fro;For oh, in wakingThe sights are not so fair,And song and silenceAre not like these below.
Young Love lies dreamingTill summer days are gone,--Dreaming and drowsingAway to perfect sleep:He sees the beautySun hath not looked upon,And tastes the fountainUnutterably deep.
Him perfect musicDoth hush unto his rest,And through the pausesThe perfect silence calms:Oh, poor the voicesOf earth from east to west,And poor earth's stillnessBetween her stately palms.
Young Love lies drowsingAway to poppied death;Cool shadows deepenAcross the sleeping face:So fails the summerWith warm, delicious breath;And what hath autumnTo give us in its place?
Draw close the curtainsOf branched evergreen;Change cannot touch themWith fading fingers sere:Here the first violetsPerhaps will bud unseen,And a dove, may be,Return to nestle here.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- poppied a.
- Mingled or interspersed with poppies. [See 1st Poppy.]
- deepen v. t.
- To make deep or deeper; to increase the depth of; to sink lower; as, to deepen a well or a channel.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- nestle v. i.
- To make and occupy a nest; to nest. [AS. nestlian.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dream-Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Dream-Love, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/dream-love.html, id L04302.
Form and metre
Dream-Love is 64 lines in 8 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 23 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-B-A-B sleeping · yearA · lilies · lightB · grazing · thereA · him · whiteB
- 2 -A-BBABB pillow · cheekA · shadow · eyesB · watersB · speakA · lingersB · skiesB
- 3 -ABCBA-C dreaming · dreamA · sunlightB · tipsC · moonlightB · streamA · silence · lipsC
- 4 -A-B-A-B him · airA · dances · froB · waking · fairA · silence · belowB
- 5 A-AB-CCB dreamingA · gone · drowsingA · sleepB · beauty · uponC · fountainC · deepB
- 6 -A-B-A-B music · restA · pauses · calmsB · voices · westA · stillness · palmsB
- 7 -A-B-A-B drowsing · deathA · deepen · faceB · summer · breathA · autumn · placeB
- 8 -A-B-A-B curtains · evergreenA · them · sereB · violets · unseenA · be · hereB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Young Love lies sleeping | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In May-time of the year, | 6 | ······ |
| Among the lilies, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Lapped in the tender light: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| White lambs come grazing, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| White doves come building there: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And round about him | 5 | ····· |
| The May-bushes are white. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Soft moss the pillow | 5 | ···/˘ |
| For oh, a softer cheek; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Broad leaves cast shadow | 5 | ···/· |
| Upon the heavy eyes: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There winds and waters | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Grow lulled and scarcely speak; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There twilight lingers | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| The longest in the skies. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Young Love lies dreaming; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| But who shall tell the dream? | 6 | ······ |
| A perfect sunlight | 5 | ·/·/· |
| On rustling forest tips; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Or perfect moonlight | 5 | ·/·/· |
| Upon a rippling stream; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or perfect silence, | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Or song of cherished lips. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Burn odours round him | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To fill the drowsy air; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Weave silent dances | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Around him to and fro; | 6 | ······ |
| For oh, in waking | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The sights are not so fair, | 6 | ······ |
| And song and silence | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Are not like these below. | 6 | ······ |
| Young Love lies dreaming | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Till summer days are gone,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Dreaming and drowsing | 5 | /˘··· |
| Away to perfect sleep: | 6 | ˘/·/·· |
| He sees the beauty | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Sun hath not looked upon, | 6 | ······ |
| And tastes the fountain | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Unutterably deep. | 6 | ······ |
| Him perfect music | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Doth hush unto his rest, | 6 | ······ |
| And through the pauses | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The perfect silence calms: | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Oh, poor the voices | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of earth from east to west, | 6 | ······ |
| And poor earth's stillness | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Between her stately palms. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Young Love lies drowsing | 5 | ····· |
| Away to poppied death; | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Cool shadows deepen | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Across the sleeping face: | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| So fails the summer | 5 | ···/˘ |
| With warm, delicious breath; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And what hath autumn | 5 | ···/˘ |
| To give us in its place? | 6 | ······ |
| Draw close the curtains | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of branched evergreen; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Change cannot touch them | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| With fading fingers sere: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Here the first violets | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Perhaps will bud unseen, | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| And a dove, may be, | 5 | ····· |
| Return to nestle here. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.