Analysis of A Dream

Helen Hunt Jackson 1830 (Amherst, Massachusetts) – 1885 (San Francisco)



I dreamed that I ws dead and crossed the heavens,--
Heavens after heavens with burning feet and swift,--
And cried: "O God, where art Thou?" I left one
On earth, whose burden I would pray Thee lift."

I was so dead I wondered at no thing,--
Not even that the angels slowly turned
Their faces, speechless, as I hurried by
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned);

Nor, at the first, that I could not find God,
Because the heavens stretched endlessly like space.
At last a terror siezed my very soul;
I seemed alone in all the crowded place.

Then, sudden, one compassionate cried out,
Though like the rest his face from me he turned,
As I were one no angel might regard
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned):

"No moew in heaven than earth will he find God
Who does not know his loving mercy swift
But waits the moment consummate and ripe,
Each burden, from each human soul to lift."

Though I was dead, I died again for shame;
Lonely, to flee from heaven again I turned;
The ranks of angels looked away from me
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned).


Scheme xaxa xbxB cdxd xbxB caxa xbxB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11111001101010 101010110101 0111111111 1111011111 1111110111 1101010101 1101011101 0111010101 1101111111 01010110011 1101011101 1101010101 1101010011 1101111111 1101110101 0111010101 11010111111 1111110101 1101010001 1101110111 1111110111 10111100111 0111010111 0111010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,074
Words 204
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 137
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 07, 2023

1:00 min read
125

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske, was an American poet and writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the United States government. more…

All Helen Hunt Jackson poems | Helen Hunt Jackson Books

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