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A Dream
POEM TEXT THEMES

1 Once a dream did weave a shade GUIDANCE, PROTECTION, AND

2 O'er my angel-guarded bed, COMPASSION
3 That an emmet lost its way William Blake's "A Dream" recounts the speaker’s
4 Where on grass methought I lay. dream of a lost emmet (or ant) who has been separated from
her children and husband. This dilemma, which seems to
5 Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, represent the speaker’s own lonely bewilderment, gets
6 Dark, benighted, travel-worn, resolved when the ant cries out for pity, and a friendly “glow-
7 Over many a tangle spray, worm” guides her home. Told from a trusting, childlike
perspective, the poem suggests that those who ask for help will
8 All heart-broke, I heard her say:
get it: the world is a naturally compassionate place, and
guidance and protection are always at hand, even in difficult
9 "Oh my children! do they cry,
times.
10 Do they hear their father sigh?
The speaker paints a picture of a natural world filled with kindly
11 Now they look abroad to see,
creatures that are readily willing to help one another. When the
12 Now return and weep for me."
little ant cries out for her husband and children, a “glow-worm”
(or firefly) quickly responds. The glow-worm acts as an
13 Pitying, I dropped a tear:
illuminator and a protector, “set to light the ground” and guide
14 But I saw a glow-worm near, the “travel-worn” ant.
15 Who replied, "What wailing wight
And this glow-worm isn't the only helpful creature around
16 Calls the watchman of the night? around! It instructs the ant to “follow [...] the beetle’s hum,”
which will lead her home. The beetle, then, is also a source of
17 "I am set to light the ground, guidance and protection. The idea that the beetle is “go[ing] his
18 While the beetle goes his round: round” (or doing rounds) further suggests that it is simply his
19 Follow now the beetle's hum; job to keep an eye out for those who need help. And, of course,
20 Little wanderer, hie thee home!" the ant herself is trying to get home to protect her own
“children,” to give them the same kind of comfort and care that
the glow-worm and beetle offer.
By setting this dream of lost-and-found drama in a version of
SUMMARY the natural world filled with benevolent creatures, the speaker
One time, lying in my bed under the protection of my guardian suggests that—at least from a perspective of “innocence”—the
angel, I had this dream: an ant was wandering around lost in the world is an inherently compassionate place, even and especially
grass where it seemed I was lying. when one feels lost.

Anxious, lost, and miserable; confused and weary from Of course, all this talk about ants and glow-worms is really an
traveling; clambering across snarled twigs and branches, heart- allegory
allegory—a story meant to illuminate a truth about the human
broken, I heard her exclaim: world. The glow-worm’s readiness to lead and care for the ant
makes it much like the protective angel that “guard[s]” the
"Oh no, my babies! Are they weeping? Is their dad sighing with speaker’s bed. In fact, the phrasing of the lines in which the
worry and fear? One moment they look around to see if I'm speaker describes the ant as “troubled, wildered, and forlorn”
there, the next they go home to grieve for me." makes it sound as though they could as easily refer to the
Touched by the ant's misfortunes, I cried: but then I caught speaker themselves. And when the ant cries out in sorrow and
sight of a glow-worm nearby, who answered the ant, "What loneliness, the speaker’s compassionate tears over the ant’s
weeping creature do I hear calling for the night guardian? plight suggest that the speaker shares those feelings.
"I'm posted here to illuminate the earth while the beetle walks This dream, in other words, is telling the speaker something
his usual beat. Listen for the sound of the beetle and follow it; about their own life and difficulties. This dream has a message:
get on home, little traveler!"

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friendly (and, given the nod to the "angel" at the poem's start, benighted, travel-worn." But take another look at the grammar
divine) guidance is always available to those who ask for it. here:
At the same time, the poem concludes without the reader ever
finding out whether the ant makes it home—so although the Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
poem ends on a hopeful, seemingly all-is-well note, there’s Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
plenty of room for less tidy interpretations. Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her sa
sayy:
Where this theme appears in the poem:
These lines are clearly meant to describe the ant. But they're
• Lines 1-20 constructed in such a way that they could just as easily be
meant to describe the speaker! Again, the dream-ant seems like
the speaker's alter ego, here—a picture of the "trouble,"
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS confusion, and weariness the speaker feels in their everyday
life.
LINES 1-4 The many caesur
caesurae
ae in lines 5-6 create a halting, stumbling
Once a dream did weave a shade rhythm that evokes the ant's weariness and confusion. But by
O'er my angel-guarded bed, using that same rhythm twice, the poem also starts to feel like a
That an emmet lost its way nursery rhyme. That fits right in with the meter here. The poem
Where on grass methought I lay. is written in trochaic tetrameter—that is, lines of four trochees,
metrical feet with a DUM
DUM-da rhythm. That pattern will be
The poem opens with the speaker recounting a dream they
familiar to anyone who's ever heard a nursery rhyme: it's the
once had. The speaker personifies the dream as a kind of
same rhythm one finds in "Jack
Jack and | Jill went | up the | hill
hill," for
mysterious weaver, saying that it "w[ove] a shade / O'er [the
instance. The poem's simple rhyming couplets only add to the
speaker's] angel-guarded bed."
singsong effect.
This moment can be taken literally, suggesting the "shad[y]"
All these childlike sounds suggest the "innocence" of the
darkness of the night. But here, it might be more fitting to think
speaker; this is, after all, one of Blake's "Songs of Innocence,"
of this "shade" as a kind of enchantment. In other words, a
which take a child's-eye view of both the beauties and the
dream cast a spell on the speaker, so that instead of feeling safe
terrors of the world. But this ant's troubles, as readers will soon
and protected in their bed, the speaker thinks they are lying on
learn, feel more adult: lost, she's fretting for her family, all alone
"grass" in the darkness of night, witnessing the distraught
at home.
wanderings of a lost "emmet," or ant.
In this dream, the speaker is lying on the grass. But they still
The fact that the speaker is dreaming of the ant (rather than just
seem to see the world from the ant's perspective, saying that
observing an ant in the real world) suggests that the ant is of
the ant has crossed "Over many a tangle spray." In other words,
some personal significance to the speaker; the speaker, it
to the tiny ant, the twisted, knotty grass might as well be an
seems, relates to this little lost ant, wandering in the darkness.
obstacle course. This rugged landscape (again, from the ant's
The poem immediately contrasts "shade," or darkness, with the perspective—for the speaker, it's just grass!) mirrors the ant's
speaker's "angel-guarded bed," suggesting that these two "troubled" emotional state, perhaps in the same way that the
things are at odds. In the dream, it seems, the sleeper is afraid dream mirror's the speaker's own troubles.
of not being able to find a way back to the waking, benevolent
The poem continues to anthropomorphize the ant, describing
world of their bedroom—or perhaps they're just feeling lost
her as "All heart-broke." Notice the effectiveness here of saying
and bewildered in their waking life.
"heart-broke" as opposed to "heart-broken": not only does
Either way, this dream will work rather like a fable, a morality dropping the "n" imitate the imperfect speech of a young child,
tale with a cast of anthropomorphized animals. This will be a it also evokes the very brokenness it's describing.
tale of being lost and found, lonely and protected.
LINES 9-12
LINES 5-8
"Oh my children! do they cry,
Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, Do they hear their father sigh?
Dark, benighted, travel-worn, Now they look abroad to see,
Over many a tangle spray, Now return and weep for me."
All heart-broke, I heard her say:
In the third stanza, the speaker hears the ant crying out for her
In the second stanza, the speaker describes the lost ant's woes, family, from whom she's been separated. The poem continues
describing it as "Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, / Dark, to anthropomorphize the ant: she can speak and has human

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emotions. thus takes on symbolic resonance: like the angel in the first
In lines 9-10, she says: stanza, the glow-worm is a figure of divine guidance and
protection, a reminder that the ant—and by extension, the
"Oh my children! || do they cry, speaker—is not alone.
Do they hear their father sigh? LINES 17-20
The strong caesur
caesuraa in line 9 draws a lot of attention to the ant's "I am set to light the ground,
main concern: her children. She isn't just distressed because While the beetle goes his round:
she herself is lost and weary; she is wracked with anxiety for Follow now the beetle's hum;
her children, not knowing if they are okay. In other words, the Little wanderer, hie thee home!"
ant is a loving, compassionate creature trying to find her way In the final stanza, the glow-worm speaks, saying that it is its job
home so she can take care of her family. to "light the ground / While the beetle goes his round." In other
And listen to her repetitions as she worries for them: words, the glow-worm lights up the night so that the beetle can
make his ordinary journey—and the glow-worm can do the
same for the ant. Again, the glow-worm feels like an angelic
Now they look abroad to see,
figure, a guardian who's just waiting to offer the ant insight and
Now return and weep for me."
direction.
The anaphor
anaphoraa on the word "now" here (like the anaphora on the All the ant has to do to get home safe, this benevolent glow-
word "do" in the first two lines of the stanza) suggests that worm suggests, is to follow the "beetle's hum"—a cozy image
every moment brings fresh worry and misery for the ant, who that suggests that, in the glow-worm's light, the whole world
knows how confused and frantic her children must be without suddenly looks a lot less menacing. Wandering along casually
her. Anaphora also underlines the poem's simple rhythm, which humming to himself, it's as if the beetle were just walking home
again brings to mind children's rhymes. from work, not going on a terrible journey through the "tangle
spray" of the wilderness.
LINES 13-16
Listen to the alliter
alliterativ
ativee music in the poem's last lines:
Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near, Follow now the beetle's hum;
Who replied, "What wailing wight Little wanderer, hie thee home!"
Calls the watchman of the night?
Stanza 4 begins with the speaker "dropp[ing]" a sympathetic All those gentle /h/ sounds evoke the beetle's musical
"tear" for the ant. The speaker's compassion might come from a "hum"—and might suggest the poem's own significance. Like the
place of pure, childlike empathy—or it may be a sign that the soft "hum" of the beetle, a poem can be a kind of guide, leading
speaker relates to the ant's situation, feeling lost and alone in one back towards a childlike understanding and appreciation of
the strange land of the dream (or in their waking life). the world. But the slant rh
rhyme
yme between "hum" and "home" is
But the speaker only has time to shed a single teardrop before more subtle than the majority of the poem's end rhrhymes
ymes,
catching sight of a "glow-worm"—that is, a luminous bug, like a perhaps hinting that such music is not always easy to hear.
firefly. This glow-worm responds to the ant's piteous cries, The glow-worm's instruction can just as easily apply to the
asking: speaker: after all, the speaker is a "little wanderer" of sorts as
well, lost in a dream, but still "angel-guarded." But because the
[...] "Wh
What wailing wight poem ends with the glow-worm's speech, it isn't certain
Calls the watchman of the night? whether the ant actually makes it home; there's still a tiny edge
of danger and uncertainty here.
The bold, attention-grabbing /w/ alliter
alliteration
ation here suggests the What is important, though, isn't whether or not the ant takes
glow-worm is clearly an important character, one worth the glow-worm's advice and makes it home, but rather that the
listening to. ant's cries for help were heard and met. In other words, the
Now, just as it did at the beginning, the poem contrasts poem implies that the world is a compassionate place, all the
darkness and bewilderment with protection and safety. While way down to its bugs—and that divine guidance and protection
in the first stanza the speaker contrasted the darkness of the are always available to those who are in need.
dream with the comfort of an "angel-guarded bed," the poem
now juxtaposes the darkness of night with the luminescence of
the "glow-worm." The glow-worm, or "watchman of the night,"

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Calls the watchman of the night?
SYMBOLS
These moments of alliteration suggest the glow-worm's
DARKNESS AND LIGHT importance in the world of this poem: all those /w/ sounds ring
out boldly, highlighting the glow-worm's words. In addition to
The poem uses darkness to symbolize confusion,
the more closely packed /w/ alliteration in these lines, there is
loneliness, and being lost, while light represents
also spread-out /w/ alliteration (and consonance
consonance) in the lines
guidance, protection, compassion, and being found.
before and after (such as "gloww-wworm" in line 14).
The poem contrasts darkness and light right away, with the
Finally, in the last two lines of the poem, /h/ alliteration feels
speaker saying that the lost ant of the dream was "dark,
both gentle and tidy:
benighted." In other words, darkness is associated with being
anxious, lost, and miserable.
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Later in the poem, the speaker sees a glow-worm, a kind of Little wanderer, hie thee home!
insect which sheds light. The glow-worm offers to help the ant,
and refers to itself as the "watchman of the night." In other This alliteration makes the slant rh
rhyme
yme between "hum" and
words, the glow-worm, through the act of "light[ing] the "home" stand out, making the phrase "hie thee home" feel like a
ground," is going to help the ant find her way home. In this way, memorable ending.
light is associated with guidance, protection, and being found.
Darkness and light may also symbolize ignorance and Where Alliter
Alliteration
ation appears in the poem:
enlightenment. Early in the poem, the speaker describes the
ant as "Dark" and "benighted" (which means ignorant). The ant • Line 1: “dream,” “did”
• Line 5: “Troubled”
is unhappy because she is ignorant—i.e. she doesn't know where
• Line 6: “travel”
she is or how to find her way home. However, with divine
• Line 7: “tangle”
guidance (i.e. the help of a glow-worm, or an "angel"), the ant
• Line 8: “heart,” “heard”
finds a way home. In this way, darkness and light relate to
• Line 14: “worm”
knowing and not knowing.
• Line 15: “What,” “wailing,” “wight”
• Line 16: “watchman”
Where this symbol appears in the poem: • Line 19: “hum”
• Line 6: “Dark, benighted” • Line 20: “hie,” “home”
• Lines 14-16: “But I saw a glow-worm near, / Who
replied, "What wailing wight / Calls the watchman of the ASSONANCE
night?” Moments of assonance help to give the poem its musical,
• Line 17: “"I am set to light the ground,” nursery-rhyme tone.
For instance, listen to the balanced sounds in these lines:

POETIC DEVICES Who repliied, "What wailing wiight

Caalls the waatchman of the night?
ALLITERATION
Alliter
Alliteration
ation gives the poem musicality and intensity. Those paired long /i/ sounds and soft /ah/ sounds make the
In the second stanza, for example, hard, thorny /t/ alliteration glow-worm's speech feel gentle and singsongy—and thus make
("T
Troubled," "ttravel-worn," "ttangle") gives way to softer /h/ the glow-worm itself sound like a comforting presence.
alliteration:
Where Assonance appears in the poem:
All heart-broke, I heard her say:
• Line 1: “dream,” “weave”
• Line 2: “bed”
The breathy /h/ sounds evoke the ant's piteous tears—and the • Line 3: “emmet”
speaker's gentle "Pity[]" for her suffering. • Line 8: “heard her”
In lines 15-16, meanwhile, intense /w/ alliteration draws • Line 12: “weep,” “me”
attention to the glow-worm's speech: • Line 15: “replied,” “wight”
• Line 16: “Calls,” “watchman”
Who replied, "Wh
What wailing wight

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helps to isolate the phrase, drawing attention to the emotional
• Line 19: “Follow now” state of both the ant and the speaker.
In line 9, meanwhile, the ant's exclamation—"Oh my
IMAGERY children!"—breaks right into the line. This dramatic pause
Imagery helps the reader to imagine the dark, dangerous, but imbues the moment with emotion: there's no ignoring that
ultimately benevolent world of the speaker's dream. exclamation point.
In the world of the dream, the speaker is lying in the grass, and Toward the end of the poem, caesurae also introduce gentler
sees a lost ant wandering "Over many a tangle spray." In other moments: the glow-worm's first speech, and its final words of
words, from the ant's perspective, the grass that the speaker is encouragement to the ant:
lying on is a difficult terrain she must cross in search of her
family. This image might even draw a parallel between the ant's Little wanderer
wanderer,, || hie thee home!"
struggle and the speaker's difficulties in the waking world: in
"dark, benighted" times, even an ordinary stroll over the grass These caesurae, which fall right in the middle of their
might seem like a dangerous and difficult journey. respective lines, create a gentle, cradle-like rocking rhythm that
The last stanza, though, provides some consolation. When the fits these moments of hope and consolation.
glow-worm arrives and tells the ant to follow the "beetle's hum"
all the way home, that onomatopoeic "hum" feels cozy and Where Caesur
Caesuraa appears in the poem:
ordinary. It's as if the beetle, going about his ordinary business, • Line 5: “Troubled, wildered, and”
is just humming a tune to himself. To him, this image suggests, • Line 6: “Dark, benighted, travel-worn”
the world doesn't feel like a menacing, "tangled" place—he's just • Line 8: “heart-broke, I”
"go[ing] his round," a reassuring figure cutting through the ant's • Line 9: “children! do”
fear. • Line 15: “replied, "What”
The poem's imagery thus helps to set up—and resolve—a • Line 20: “wanderer, hie”
miniature drama.
ANTHROPOMORPHISM
Where Imagery appears in the poem: Anthropomorphism makes this poem feel both childlike and
• Lines 6-7: “Dark, benighted, travel-worn, / Over many a dreamlike. The poem anthropomorphizes an ant, a glow-worm,
tangle spray,” and a beetle, imbuing them not only with human qualities, but
• Line 19: “Follow now the beetle's hum;” (in the case of the glow-worm and the beetle) divine ones.
The ant is described as having "lost its way" among a "tangle[d]
CAESURA spray" of plants and grasses; now she is separated from her
family and is therefore "all heart-broke." The ant speaks for
The poem uses caesur
caesuraa to pace the poem and to create rhythm.
herself: she is her own character. This makes the poem feel
In the first stanza, there are no caesurae—the stanza is smooth more like a fable—that is, a kind of morality tale with animal
and flowing and isn't slowed down by pauses within lines. In protagonists.
contrast, the second stanza contains quite a bit of caesura:
The moral, it seems, is that the world is inherently benevolent
and that help is available to those who ask for it. When the
Troubled, || wildered, || and forlorn,
anthropomorphized glow-worm appears and describes itself as
Dark, || benighted, || tr
traavel-worn
el-worn,
"the watchman of the night," it seems to offer an almost angelic
Over many a tangle spray,
guidance (much like the angel said to "guard[]" the speaker's
All heart-brok
heart-broke,
e, || I heard her say:
bed at the beginning of the poem). Shedding light in the
darkness and showing the ant the way home, this glow-worm
The first two lines in break at roughly the same point, and so
seems like a divine protector, always ready to answer the ant's
echo each other's rhythms. In comparison to the dreamy
cries.
smoothness of the first stanza, the string of pauses in these
lines evokes the ant's exhaustion and her difficult progress Insects aren't the only things being personified in this poem:
"over many a tangle spray." This halting list of descriptions also the "dream" itself is also said to "weave a shade," like an artisan.
suggests all the different ways that someone might find While this can be interpreted to mean that sleep brings with it
themselves in need of guidance—because they are distressed, literal "shade" (or darkness), the word "shade" might also be
or because they are lost, or because they can't see clearly (both understood as a kind of enchantment. In other words, the
literally and figur
figurativ
atively
ely). And the caesura after "heart-broke" dream, like some kind of sorcerer, "weaves" an enchantment
over the speaker, so that they find themselves in a strange

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world where insects talk and impart important lessons. rhymes—and in particular, to the musical slant rh rhyme
yme between
"hum" and "home." But they also make the glow-worm sound
Where Anthropomorphism appears in the poem: authoritative as it gives the ant simple, clear directions:
perhaps it won't be so hard for her to get "home" as she
• Line 1 expects.
• Lines 3-12
• Lines 14-20
Where End-Stopped Line appears in the poem:
END-STOPPED LINE • Line 2: “bed,”
While a few of the poem's lines are enjambed
enjambed, most are end- • Line 4: “lay.”
stopped
stopped. The mix of enjambed and end-stopped lines helps to • Line 5: “forlorn,”
• Line 6: “travel-worn,”
pace the poem.
• Line 7: “spray,”
For instance, the first stanza contains two enjambed lines, and • Line 8: “say:”
thus moves quickly, fluidly setting the scene and introducing • Line 9: “cry,”
the dream itself. • Line 10: “sigh?”
In contrast, the second stanza contains only end-stopped lines: • Line 11: “see,”
• Line 12: “me."”
Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, • Line 13: “tear:”
Dark, benighted, trtraavel-worn, • Line 14: “near,”
Over many a tangle spr spraay, • Line 17: “ground,”
All heart-broke, I heard her sasay:
y: • Line 18: “round:”
• Line 19: “hum;”
By encouraging the reader to pause at the end of every line • Line 20: “home!"”
(not to mention within lines, due to all those caesur
caesurae
ae), end-
stopped lines slow the poem down considerably, creating a PARALLELISM
stop-and-start rhythm that evokes the ant's hesitancy and Par
arallelism
allelism gives the poem rhythm and musicality.
uncertainty. The poem's end-stops help to emphasize its end
The poem's first moment of parallelism appears when the
rh
rhymes
ymes, keeping the poem's nursery-rhyme flavor up
speaker gives this harrowing description of the ant's
front—and emphasizing that this is a childlike "Song of
feelings—feelings the stanza's grammar suggests are also the
Innocence."
speaker's:
Lines 15-16 is the only other place in the poem that uses
enjambment: Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, tr
traavel-worn,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?" With one sad adjective after another, these similarly structured
lines feel heavy and troubled, and evoke the feeling of plodding,
Enjambment here suggests the glow-worm's confidence. As lost and afraid, through a menacing landscape. Ant and speaker
opposed to the fearful hesitancy of the ant, whose every phrase alike, these parallel lines suggest, are having a pretty rough
("do they cry," "Do they hear their father sigh," etc) is broken up time of it.
by a pause, the glow-worm's speech feels more expansive and
The poem also uses some anaphor
anaphoraa in lines 9-10:
certain, even as it is asking a question. The glow-worm isn't
afraid of or confused by the darkness of night because it is
Oh my children! do the
theyy cry,
capable of illuminating that darkness.
Do the
theyy hear their father sigh?
The rest of the poem uses more firm end-stops. Listen to the
glow-worm's final speech here: These repetitions lend rhythm to the poem, and evoke the ant's
frantic thoughts as she worries for the well-being of her
"I am set to light the ground, children.
While the beetle goes his round:
Lines 11-12 do something similar:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!"
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.
These last few end-stops again draw attention to the

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The anxious repetition of the word "Now" suggests that each Innocence, poems meant to evoke the clear-eyed delight of
and every moment, the ant is tormented by fear, imagining all childhood. In fact, Blake felt children would understand his
the ways her family suffers in her absence. The back-and-forth poems better than anyone.
actions of her children also suggest that they too are lost and That being said, there is a complexity to the poem that belies
confused without their mother, unsure of where to look for her the apparent simplicity of the form. The poem may be
or whether instead to grieve. expressing a childlike trust in the inherent goodness of the
Parallelism thus helps the poem's rhythms to match and world, but trust alone doesn't necessarily make it so. This is
highlight its emotions. why Blake published a second volume of corresponding poems
titled Songs of Experience, a volume which expresses a more
Where P
Par
arallelism
allelism appears in the poem: world-weary, adult perspective in contrast to Song of Innocence.
• Lines 5-6: “Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, / Dark, METER
benighted, travel-worn,”
"A Dream" is written in trochaic tetrameter: that is, each line
• Line 9: “do they”
contains four trochees, metrical feet with a DUM
DUM-da rhythm.
• Line 10: “Do they”
• Line 11: “Now” This is often called "falling meter" because the lines begin
• Line 12: “Now” forcefully and then end on weaker unstressed syllables. This
poem, however, uses catalexis, meaning that lines leave out that
last unstressed syllable and end on strong stressed syllables.
Take the first line, for example:
VOCABULARY
O'er (Line 2) - A contraction of the word "Over." Once a | dream did | wea
weavve a | shade
Emmet (Line 3) - An ant.
Ending most lines on those strong stresses gives the poem a
Methought (Line 4) - An archaic way of saying "it seemed to punchier, livelier tone. And in general, this simple, forceful,
me" or "I thought." singsongy meter makes this poem feel like a nursery
Wildered (Line 5) - Lost or bewildered. rhyme—fitting for a childlike "Song of Innocence."
Forlorn (Line 5) - Miserable or heavy-hearted, with RHYME SCHEME
connotations of loneliness in particular.
The poem's simple rh
rhyme
yme scheme runs like this:
Benighted (Line 6) - Ignorant or unenlightened; overtaken by
AABB
darkness.
This uncomplicated pattern contributes to the poem's childlike
Travel-worn (Line 6) - Weary from traveling.
tone
tone: by tying each couplet into a neat little bow, the poem
Many a tangle spray (Line 7) - That is, many knotty clusters of matches its rhymes to its reassuring tale of guidance and
branches and plants. compassion. For example, the quick end-rh
end-rhyme
yme between "tear"
Heart-broke (Line 8) - Heart-broken. and "near" in lines 13 and 14 suggests that the speaker barely
has time to shed a single tear in response to the ant's plight
Glow-worm (Line 14) - Any of a number of insects which glow
before someone (in this case a "glow-worm") comes along to
through bioluminescence (fireflies, for example).
offer help.
Wight (Line 15) - A living being or creature.
While the majority of the end rhymes in this poem use full
Goes his round (Line 18) - Walks his usual path. rhyme (that is, they rhyme exactly), the first and last rhymes are
Hie thee home (Line 20) - To "hie" is to go somewhere fast, so both slant
slant. In lines 1 and 2, "shade" rhymes with "bed,"
the glow-worm is just saying, "get yourself home quickly!" contrasting the safety and comfort of a warm place to sleep
with the uncertainty and fear children often associate with
darkness.
FORM, METER, & RHYME And in the last two lines of the poem, the slant rhyme between
"hum" and "home" perhaps complicates the simple idea that the
FORM ant can just follow the sound of the beetle home—the lack of a
"A Dream" consists of five four-line stanzas, or quatrains. This perfect rhyme might suggest that the ant might not make it
simple form, coupled with regular meter and rh rhyme
yme (more on back to her family so easily, after all.
that in minute), gives the poem an almost nursery-rhyme
feel—which makes sense, as this is one of Blake's Songs of

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Blake first published "A Dream" in his 1789 book Songs of
SPEAKER Innocence, which in 1794 he republished as an expanded
collection called Songs of Innocence and Experience. As a whole,
The speaker of this poem is a child or a childlike figure
remembering a dream they once had. In the dream, the speaker this two-part collection explores the contrasting sides of
sees a lost ant crying out for her family, and a glow-worm human nature, and can be seen as a reenvisioning of the Biblical
coming to her aid. While the speaker mostly seems concerned tale of the Garden of Eden and humanity’s fall from grace.
with telling the ant's tale, the reader gets a sense of the Blake’s writing was meant to instill moral lessons, but not
speaker's own fears and preoccupations through that tale: the simple ones: the deceptively plainspoken poems of Innocence
speaker, too, seems "troubled, wildered, and forlorn" and is and Experience can be interpreted in many ways. Many of the
quick to sympathetically "drop[] a tear" over the ant's plight. poems in Innocence correspond directly to a poem in Experience;
In the final stanza, the glow-worm gives the ant instructions on for instance, "A Dream" is paralleled by "The
The Angel
Angel," which also
how to return home, and its instructions ("Little wanderer, hie details a dream and the guardianship of angels. But while “A
thee home!") feel applicable to the speaker as well. Because the Dream” depicts compassion as a connection to the divine,
poem ends with this line, readers might imagine that the nature, and each other, “The Angel” has a more world-weary
speaker awakes in their own "angel-guarded bed," no longer tone, and explores what happens when people lose this
frightened and far from home. connection.
One of Blake’s most important influences was John Milton,
whose Pararadise
adise Lost and Paradise Regained influence this poem's
SETTING lost-and-found narrative. Blake revered Milton: not only did he
create four different sets of illustrations for Paradise Lost, he
The poem is set inside the speaker's dreaming mind.
wrote an epic poem called “Milton” in which Milton's spirit
In the dream, the speaker is lying "on grass" and encounters an enters Blake’s foot and leads him into “The City of Art.” In other
ant that has "lost its way" in the dark night and is now words, Blake credited Milton with his very creativity, and felt an
separated from its family. Down at the ant's level, the landscape intensely personal connection to his work.
is rugged: the ant is weary from traveling "Over many a tangle
spray" (that is, the wild, daunting plants and grasses). HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Hearing the ant's pitiful cries, a "glow-worm" emerges and Blake didn't just write poetry: he illustrated, hand-engraved,
offers advice on how she might return home. It tells her to printed, and distributed his own poems. His illustrations often
"Follow now the beetle's hum." The glow-worm and beetle's deepen, complicate, or even contradict the narratives they
light and "hum" become a comforting presence in a wilderness, accompany.
a source of guidance in a strange land. He used an original, ground-breaking method to create his
books: rather than carving into the copper plates used in
printing, he would paint both poems and pictures directly onto
CONTEXT his plates with a resilient ink, then submerge them in an acid
bath, so that the material around the images was seared away.
LITERARY CONTEXT His process was an expression of his belief that the artist's job
William Blake (1757-1827) is revered as one of the most is to "melt[] apparent surfaces away" so that everything
unique and influential figures in the history of English "appear[s] to man as it is, infinite."
literature. Though he is now often considered the first of the This belief was at the heart of Blake's work and life. Blake was
Romantic poets because of his ideals regarding nature, the profoundly religious, but critical of organized religion, which he
imagination, and creativity, he was considered peculiar and saw as detrimental to a more natural and direct relationship
even deranged in his own time. Unlike contemporaries such as between human beings and the divine. He was also influenced
Samuel T Taaylor Coleridge and William W
Wordsworth
ordsworth, he by the revolutions (French and American) taking place around
struggled to find an audience—either popular or critical—that him. Seeing that societal and religious constructs could be
understood or appreciated his work. broken down and new liberties gained, Blake used his work to
Part of this is due to the visionary quality of Blake’s poetry. address social issues like the mistreatment of children and
Blake spoke of witnessing angels and other spiritual racism
acism.
phenomena since his early childhood, and these experiences The Industrial Revolution was also heavy on Blake's mind. He
informed his work to such a degree that even Coleridge, worried human beings were losing touch with nature, and
himself a visionary, remark
remarkeded that he was quite “common-place” therefore with God, themselves, and one another. In "A Dream,"
compared to Blake. for instance, humanity and nature are all in communion with

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the divine. Just as the glow-worm’s light and "the beetle's hum" • Blak
Blakee's Printing Method — A look at Blake's print-making
are a lifeline for the lost ant, nature, Blake believed, could process and how it relates to his poetry and visual art.
provide guidance and instruction. In his view, feeling (i.e. the (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/watch?v=96LU
outube.com/watch?v=96LUAaaP AaaPqRc)
qRc)
ant’s cries, the speaker’s tears), not intellect, allows one to
LITCHARTS ON OTHER WILLIAM BLAKE POEMS
access the earth’s inherent wisdom.
• APPoison
oison TTree
ree
• London
MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES • The Chimne
Chimneyy Sweeper (Songs of Experience
Experience))
• The Chimne
Chimneyy Sweeper (Songs of Innocence
Innocence))
EXTERNAL RESOURCES • The Clod and the PPebble
ebble
• The Divine Image
• A Reading of the P
Poem
oem — Listen to the poem read aloud.
• The Ecchoing Green
(https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/watch?v=8OPD
outube.com/watch?v=8OPDZ ZsMqxQg)
• The Garden of LLoove
• The PPoem
oem Illuminated — See the poem in its original form: • The Lamb
a hand-engraved, illuminated print made by Blake himself. • The Little Black Bo
Boyy
(http:/
(http://www
/www.blak
.blakearchiv
earchive.org/cop
e.org/copyy/s-inn.b?descId=s- • The Sick Rose
inn.b.illbk.18) • The T
Tyger
yger

• A Short Biogr
Biograph
aphyy — Learn more about Blake's life and
work via the Poetry Foundation. HOW T
TO
O CITE
(https:/
(https://www
/www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-blak
.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-blakee)
• Songs of Innocence and Experience — Take a look at MLA
images of the first edition of Songs of Innocence and
Mottram, Darla. "A Dream." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 9 Aug 2021.
Experience, the lavishly illustrated collection this poem
Web. 23 Aug 2021.
comes from. (https:/
(https://www
/www.bl.uk/collection-items/william-
.bl.uk/collection-items/william-
blak
blakes-songs-of-innocence-and-e
es-songs-of-innocence-and-experience
xperience)) CHICAGO MANUAL
• Blak
Blakee's LLegacy
egacy — Read author Philip Pullman's reflection Mottram, Darla. "A Dream." LitCharts LLC, August 9, 2021.
on Blake's continuing influence. Retrieved August 23, 2021. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/
(https:/
(https://www
/www.theguardian.com/books/2014/no
.theguardian.com/books/2014/novv/28/ william-blake/a-dream.
philip-pullman-william-blak
philip-pullman-william-blake-and-me
e-and-me))

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