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!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
40

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDEFDE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 663
Words 116
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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