Analysis of Dream Song I

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Long years ago, within a distant clime,
Ere Love had touched me with his wand sublime,
I dreamed of one to make my life's calm May
The panting passion of a summer's day.
And ever since, in almost sad suspense,
I have been waiting with a soul intense
To greet and take unto myself the beams,
Of her, my star, the lady of my dreams.

O Love, still longed and looked for, come to me,
Be thy far home by mountain, vale, or sea.
My yearning heart may never find its rest
Until thou liest rapt upon my breast.
The wind may bring its perfume from the south,
Is it so sweet as breath from my love's mouth?
Oh, naught that surely is, and naught that seems
May turn me from the lady of my dreams.


Scheme AAAXBBCC AXDDEECC
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010101 1111111101 1111111111 0101010101 010101101 1111010101 110110101 1011010111 1111011111 1111110111 1101110111 011110111 0111101101 1111111111 1111010111 1111010111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 678
Words 138
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 263
Words per stanza (avg) 68
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

42 sec read
56

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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