Olney Hymns · Chapter
On Dreaming explained
This poem reflects on the nature of dreams, suggesting they reveal the soul's activity independent of the body.
What happens
This poem reflects on the nature of dreams, suggesting they reveal the soul's activity independent of the body. It explores how dreams can be wild or instructive, and uses them as a metaphor for the transient nature of earthly life, which will be seen as a dream upon waking in eternity.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional peak occurs in stanza V, where the speaker’s hope is violently extinguished as Satan obscures ev…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- The Vanity of Worldly Things
Life is compared to a dream, emphasizing its transient and insubstantial nature.
- Hope of Heaven and Eternal Life
The poem hints at an awakening after death, suggesting a reality beyond this earthly dream.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Reflects on the experience of dreaming and its implications for the soul.
- Death
Referred to as the 'awful call' that wakes mortals from the dream of life.
Key passages
“This life, which mortals so esteem, That many choose it for their all, They will confess, was but a dream, When waken’d by death’s awful call.”
The life that people value so highly and treat as their everything will be recognized as fleeting and unreal when death awakens them to eternity.
The poem concludes with the metaphor of life as a dream, contrasted with the awakening of death.
