Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.
Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:
"Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me."
Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?
"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!"
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From guest goofy (contact)
thanks for all comments here, i really needed them, because i had absolutely no idea how to start my essay about this poem. -goofy -
A Dream by William Blake
From guest Gill (contact)
Thankyou for your analysis on this, like you usully love analysing but a bit lost here - thanks again! -
Meh.
I'm not exactly a big fan of this man because i find it so hard to figure out his poetry. I'm normally pretty good at analysing stuff but sheesh!
I'm finding it pretty hard finding annotations to this poem so here's what i've got so far incase anyone else needs info on it:
* From the start of the poem the readership are told that the text is based on a dream, escaping from reality and into the dream world.
* The characters in the poem are all insects which parallels with the christian teaching of caring for even the least of God's creatures. The Emmet of corse, is an ant, it's capitalised to emphasise it's importance etc.
* The glow-worm is symbolic of the guiding light/star of nazareth...whatever you fancy calling it. And i'm assuming that "the watchman of the night" is God himself.
* The whole poem is surrounded by an atmosphere of loss, especially of children, as if they've lost their place in the interconnected universe. Loss of children could also signify the changes that come into play from the transition from innocence to experience.
I basically got pretty much all of that from York Notes and i fully recommend that you buy this guide if you're studying this man's poetry at school. Hope this is helpful to someone! -
I think the whole imagery surrounding the various insects is rather interesting but my favorites are right smack in the middle of the entire poem.
"Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me."
♥ Kimberly
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I've never heard of him before this poem but he is rather good. Not one of my favorites that's for sure but he still has talent and for that I commend him.
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I liked this a lot, another deep write from him
I liked this because of its mesage- I think it links to warfare although he's multilayered so I'm not sure
Pozo
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i think ur poems r really weird but they work perfectly for my literature project.
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i thought it was pretty good. then the bugs came in and it confused me. it was good nonetheless. pity mr. blake isn't around to tell us what he's rambling about in his less that obvious poems.
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soft and gentle poem,beautiful,although superficial.
some one said sumthing about the representation the glow-worm has, if you look at the poem from a 'religious' aspect, you'll see that the glow worm can be interpretated in a different 'light'(the glow-worm lights the up the path),you can therefor relate the worm to a guiding light, much as you would God.but thats just my thinking,watev... -
excellent write
Great Piece, I love this, very interesting and kept my attention!
A very well written write, keep'em coming, I enjoyed!
Thanks for sharing and pen on!
-Timothy -
I don't see the glow-worm representing anything other than the insect itself, as does the beetle and the emmet(Old Wessex name for ants and still used today to represent tourists).
Andrew -
or an angel?
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fireflies?! ^_^
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What does the glow-worm represent?
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