Analysis of Dream
James Whitcomb Riley 1849 (Greenfield) – 1916 (Indianapolis)
Because her eyes were far too deep
And holy for a laugh to leap
Across the brink where sorrow tried
To drown within the amber tide;
Because the looks, whose ripples kissed
The trembling lids through tender mist,
Were dazzled with a radiant gleam--
Because of this I called her 'Dream.'
Because the roses growing wild
About her features when she smiled
Were ever dewed with tears that fell
With tenderness ineffable;
Because her lips might spill a kiss
That, dripping in a world like this,
Would tincture death's myrrh-bitter stream
To sweetness--so I called her 'Dream.'
Because I could not understand
The magic touches of a hand
That seemed, beneath her strange control,
To smooth the plumage of the soul
And calm it, till, with folded wings,
It half forgot its flutterings,
And, nestled in her palm, did seem
To trill a song that called her 'Dream.'
Because I saw her, in a sleep
As dark and desolate and deep
And fleeting as the taunting night
That flings a vision of delight
To some lorn martyr as he lies
In slumber ere the day he dies--
Because she vanished like a gleam
Of glory, do I call her 'Dream.'
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEXXFFDD GGHHXFDD AAIIJJDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010111 01010111 01011101 11010101 01011101 010011101 010101001 01111101 01010101 01010111 01011111 11000100 01011101 11000111 11011101 11011101 0111101 01010101 11010101 11010101 01111101 110111 01000111 11011101 01110001 11010001 01010101 11010101 11110111 01010111 01110101 11011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,086 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 219 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 160 Views
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"Dream" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20868/dream>.
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