Lyric Poem · Sad

A Dream

by William Blake

Reading room

1Once a dream did weave a shade

2O'er my angel-guarded bed,

3That an emmet lost its way

4Where on grass methought I lay.

5Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,

6Dark, benighted, travel-worn,

7Over many a tangle spray,

8All heart-broke, I heard her say:

9"Oh my children! do they cry,

10Do they hear their father sigh?

11Now they look abroad to see,

12Now return and weep for me."

13Pitying, I dropped a tear:

14But I saw a glow-worm near,

15Who replied, "What wailing wight

16Calls the watchman of the night?

17"I am set to light the ground,

18While the beetle goes his round:

19Follow now the beetle's hum;

20Little wanderer, hie thee home!"

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“A Dream” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/a-dream

Quick facts

Poem: A Dream
Poet: William Blake
Length: 20 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Sad, Dreams & Sleep, Love

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 20 lines · 5 quatrains
Line length: Mostly 7-syllable lines.

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Text, source & rights

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Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: William Blake1757–1827
Source record: PoetryDBA Dream by william-blake, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 15f1947ac366c644…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Sad Dreams & Sleep Love

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