Analysis of Sonnet V

George Santayana 1863 (Madrid) – 1952 (Rome)



Dreamt I today the dream of yesternight,
Sleep ever feigning one evolving theme -
Of my two lives which should I call the dream?
Which action vanity? Which vision sight?
Some greater waking must pronounce aright,
If aught abides still of the things that seem,
And with both currents swell the flooded stream
Into an ocean infinite of light.

Even such a dream I dream, and know full well
My waking passes like a midnight spell,
But know not if my dreaming could break through
Into the deeps of heaven and of hell.
I know but this of all I would I knew:
Truth is a dream, unless my dream is true.


Scheme ABBAABBA CCDCDD
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111 1101010101 1111111101 1101001101 110101011 1101110111 0111010101 0111010011 10101110111 110101011 1111110111 0101110011 1111111111 1101011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 589
Words 114
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 235
Words per stanza (avg) 56
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
104

George Santayana

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. more…

All George Santayana poems | George Santayana Books

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    Who wrote the poem "Dreams"?
    A Langston Hughes
    B Gerard Manley Hopkins
    C John Donne
    D Thomas Hardy