The Dream
Moonlight and dew-drenched blossom, and the scentOf summer gardens; these can bring you allThose dreams that in the starlit silence fall:Sweet songs are full of odours.While I wentLast night in drizzling dusk along a lane,I passed a squalid farm; from byre and middenCame the rank smell that brought me once againA dream of war that in the past was hidden.
Up a disconsolate straggling village streetI saw the tired troops trudge: I heard their feet.The cheery Q.M.S. was there to meetAnd guide our Company in ...I watched them stumbleInto some crazy hovel, too beat to grumble;Saw them file inward, slipping from their backsRifles, equipment, packs.On filthy straw they sit in the gloom, each faceBowed to patched, sodden boots they must unlace,While the wind chills their sweat through chinks and cracks.
I'm looking at their blistered feet; young JonesStares up at me, mud-splashed and white and jaded;Out of his eyes the morning light has faded.Old soldiers with three winters in their bonesPuff their damp Woodbines, whistle, stretch their toes:They can still grin at me, for each of 'em knowsThat I'm as tired as they are ...Can they guessThe secret burden that is always mine?--Pride in their courage; pity for their distress;And burning bitternessThat I must take them to the accursèd Line.
I cannot hear their voices, but I seeDim candles in the barn: they gulp their tea,And soon they'll sleep like logs. Ten miles awayThe battle winks and thuds in blundering strife.And I must lead them nearer, day by day,To the foul beast of war that bludgeons life.
Words in this poem
- starlit a.
- Lighted by the stars; starlight.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- squalid a.
- Dirty through neglect; foul; filthy; extremely dirty. [L. squalidus, fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- byre n.
- A cow house. [N. of Eng.& Scot.] [Cf, Icel. bür pantry, Sw. bur cage,Dan. buur, E.bower.]
- disconsolate n.
- Disconsolateness. Barrow.
- straggling a.
- from Straggle, v.
- trudge v. i.
- To walk or march with labor; to jog along; to move wearily. [Perhaps of Scand. origin, and originally meaning, to walk on snowshoes; cf. dial. Sw. truga, trudja, a snowshoe, Norw. truga, Icel. þruga.]
- hovel n.
- An open shed for sheltering cattle, or protecting produce, etc., from the weather. Brande & C. [OE. hovel, hovil, prob. a dim. fr. AS. hof house; akin to D. & G. hof court, yard, Icel. hof temple; cf. Prov. E. hove to take shelter, heuf shelter, home.]
- grumble v. i.
- To murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner. [Cf. LG. grummeln, grumman, D. grommelen, grommen, and F. grommeler, of German origin; cf. W. grwm, murmur, grumble, surly. sq. root35. Cf. Grum, Grim.]
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- unlace v. t.
- To loose by undoing a lacing; as, to unlace a shoe. [1st un- + lace.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- gulp v. t.
- To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down at one swallow. [D. gulpen, cf. OD. golpe gulf.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dream is in the public domain. This text is taken from Counter-Attack and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8930; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Siegfried Sassoon, The Dream, in Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8930, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sassoon-counter-attack/the-dream.html, id L04723.
Form and metre
The Dream is 38 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 45% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABB-ACDCD scentA · allB · fallB · odours · wentA · laneC · middenD · againC · hiddenD
- 2 AAA-BBCCDDC streetA · feetA · meetA · in · stumbleB · grumbleB · backsC · packsC · faceD · unlaceD · cracksC
- 3 ABBACC-DEDDE jonesA · jadedB · fadedB · bonesA · toesC · knowsC · are · guessD · mineE · distressD · bitternessD · lineE
- 4 AABCBC seeA · teaA · awayB · strifeC · dayB · lifeC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Moonlight and dew-drenched blossom, and the scent | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Of summer gardens; these can bring you all | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Those dreams that in the starlit silence fall: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Sweet songs are full of odours. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| While I went | 3 | ··· |
| Last night in drizzling dusk along a lane, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| I passed a squalid farm; from byre and midden | 11 | ···/˘··/·/˘ |
| Came the rank smell that brought me once again | 10 | ········˘/ |
| A dream of war that in the past was hidden. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Up a disconsolate straggling village street | 11 | ··˘/˘˘/˘/˘· |
| I saw the tired troops trudge: I heard their feet. | 10 | ···/······ |
| The cheery Q.M.S. was there to meet | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And guide our Company in ... | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| I watched them stumble | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Into some crazy hovel, too beat to grumble; | 12 | ···/˘/˘···/˘ |
| Saw them file inward, slipping from their backs | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Rifles, equipment, packs. | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| On filthy straw they sit in the gloom, each face | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Bowed to patched, sodden boots they must unlace, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| While the wind chills their sweat through chinks and cracks. | 10 | ·········· |
| I'm looking at their blistered feet; young Jones | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Stares up at me, mud-splashed and white and jaded; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Out of his eyes the morning light has faded. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Old soldiers with three winters in their bones | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Puff their damp Woodbines, whistle, stretch their toes: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They can still grin at me, for each of 'em knows | 11 | ··········· |
| That I'm as tired as they are ... | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Can they guess | 3 | ··· |
| The secret burden that is always mine?-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Pride in their courage; pity for their distress; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··˘/ |
| And burning bitterness | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| That I must take them to the accursèd Line. | 10 | ·········· |
| I cannot hear their voices, but I see | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Dim candles in the barn: they gulp their tea, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And soon they'll sleep like logs. Ten miles away | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The battle winks and thuds in blundering strife. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And I must lead them nearer, day by day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To the foul beast of war that bludgeons life. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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.