Mirage by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker wakes to find that a hoped-for dream was only a dream and feels comfortless, worn, and old. They describe hanging a broken, silenced harp on a willow and ask their breaking heart to lie still, declaring that life, the world, and their own self have changed.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry · 129 words
First lines
The hope I dreamed of was a dream, / Was but a dream; and now I wake / Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old, / For a dream's sake.
I hang my harp upon a tree, / A weeping willow in a lake; / I hang my silenced harp there, wrung and snapt / For a dream's sake.
Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart; / My silent heart, lie still and break: / Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed / For a dream's sake.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Three short stanzas voice a speaker's distress, each ending with the same refrain about a dream.
- Melancholic Poetry — The speaker wakes comfortless and worn, describes a broken, silenced harp, and addresses a breaking heart.
Tags
lost hope · dreams · disillusionment · sorrow · silence
What this Textopian page supports
Mirage is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry
- Length: 129 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
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