Analysis of The Harlequin Of Dreams

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



Swift, through some trap mine eyes have never found,
 Dim-panelled in the painted scene of Sleep,
 Thou, giant Harlequin of Dreams, dost leap
Upon my spirit's stage.  Then Sight and Sound,
Then Space and Time, then Language, Mete and Bound,
 And all familiar Forms that firmly keep
 Man's reason in the road, change faces, peep
Betwixt the legs and mock the daily round.
Yet thou canst more than mock:  sometimes my tears
 At midnight break through bounden lids -- a sign
  Thou hast a heart:  and oft thy little leaven
Of dream-taught wisdom works me bettered years.
 In one night witch, saint, trickster, fool divine,
  I think thou'rt Jester at the Court of Heaven!


Scheme ABBAABBACDEFDE
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111101 110010111 1101001111 0111011101 1101110101 0101011101 1100011101 0101010101 1111110111 11111101 11010111010 1111011101 0111110101 11110101110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 663
Words 116
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 514
Words per stanza (avg) 117
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
40

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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