The Dream
That I might ever dream thus! that some powerTo my eternal sleep would join this hour!So, willingly deceiv'd, I might possessIn seeming joys a real happiness.Haste not away: O do not dissipateA pleasure thou so lately didst create!Stay, welcome Sleep; be ever here confin'd:Or if thou wilt away, leave her behind.
Words in this poem
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dream is in the public domain. This text is taken from Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait., Project Gutenberg ebook #32986; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Stanley, The Dream, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-dream.html, id L08931.
Form and metre
The Dream is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDD powerA · hourA · possessB · happinessB · dissipateC · createC · confin'dD · behindD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That I might ever dream thus! that some power | 9 | ···/····/ |
| To my eternal sleep would join this hour! | 10 | ··˘/˘····/ |
| So, willingly deceiv'd, I might possess | 9 | ·/˘˘/··˘/ |
| In seeming joys a real happiness. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| Haste not away: O do not dissipate | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| A pleasure thou so lately didst create! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Stay, welcome Sleep; be ever here confin'd: | 9 | ·/˘··/·˘/ |
| Or if thou wilt away, leave her behind. | 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.