Bad Dreams by Robert Browning
A lover wakes from dreamed rejection reassured by their own unchanged love; another dream provokes jealous reproaches, answered by a woman's comic dream about a philology exam. A third dream presents a forest and a perfect city, then shows them destroying each other. In the final dream, a speaker watches a formerly stern lover weep at the speaker's grave and declare that their faults no longer matter.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Poetry, Dream Literature · 1,918 words
First lines
I
Last night I saw you in my sleep: / And how your charm of face was changed! / I asked, "Some love, some faith you keep? " / You answered, "Faith gone, love estranged."
Genres
- Poetry — Four numbered sections recount dreams in rhymed stanzas, with direct speech and addresses to a beloved and to the soul.
- Dream Literature — Dreams frame rejection, a disturbing dance and suspected betrayal, conflicting forest and city landscapes, and a lover's grief at a grave.
Tags
dreams · jealousy · steadfast love · grief · nature and art
What this Textopian page supports
Bad Dreams is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Dream Literature
- Length: 1,918 words
- Structure: 1 section, 38 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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