Dreams - Green sleeves

letteratura inglese

Dreams

The poem is made up of eight lines, which are grouped in two stanzas each of four lines of different length and all begin with capital letter.

The pattern of end rhymes in each stanza is the same: the second 515h74f and the fourth line rhyme, while the first and the third don't. Also the number of stresses per line creates a design or pattern of sounds. At language level the most interesting feature is the use of one comparison in each stanza; life with non dreams is like a broken-winged bird; life with no dreams is like a barren field.

I think the two comparison express paralysis, coldness, lacks of vitality and energy. Metaphors convey the main idea of the poem, that is, life without dreams is not worth living. This central idea is reinforced trough the device of repetition.

The voice "speaking" in the poem is the poet himself who addressed to the reading public at large in an urgent tone which is particularly conveyed by repeating the exhortation in the first line of each stanza.

Green sleeves

In the ballad a lover complains about the way he is being treated by his inconstant lady-love Green sleeves. She was all his joy and he regarded her as the finest example of a lady. He had always been willing to give her whatever she wished for; risking both is life and land to win her love.

The stresses in the two stanzas are regular enough to form a design or stress pattern which suits the melancholy tone of the poem. The pattern is iambic, that is, it is made from repeated sequence of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. However, the first three lines of the refrain begin with the name of the beloved which is stressed on the first syllable and therefore fore grounded.