What the Critics Say About "A Dream"

Scholars of "A Dream" tend to focus on a few general issues: lostness, guardianship, dreams, and innocence. Many give at least passing attention to Blake's having moved the song to Experience in a few early copies, largely because of what that move might tell us about the meaning of the poem. However, the critics agree that any explanation is purely speculative; and because the song was returned to Innocence, they generally assign minor importance to the question.

Hirsch's discussion of "A Dream" is relatively thorough and somewhat general. He asserts that "it is a great mistake to take the poem too seriously" (205), but he clearly considers it worth examination, identifying guardianship as a central issue and linking the song with the themes of Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love.

Gardner's exploration of "A Dream" is comparatively lengthy, treating first Blake's ambivalence about whether to place the song in Innocence or in Experience, likely because of the elements of experience it contains. He makes a case for dream-like shifting perceptions as the speaker is initially linked by angle of vision to the ant, then later removed from that identification as the ant is revealed to be a mother, not a child. Relative to Songs of Innocence overall, Gardner surveys the role of fathers and finds them ineffectual.

In contrast, Gleckner uses "A Dream" to explore the role of the mother in Innocence and suggests that the emmet's grief over her children's unprotected state evokes the light (an "epiphany") which enables her return home. Gleckner offers the intriguing interpretation that this dream is a glimpse into the time when a child will have to be separated from its mother, and the eternal light of imagination will serve as guide for "the wandering soul" (113).

Like Gardner, Pagliaro is concerned with the issue of innocence. He proposes a grouping of the Songs of Innocence based on the quality of the characters' sense of unity with the world; "A Dream" falls in the category that includes those songs whose chracters remain in innocence despite evidence of a hostile world. Pagliaro's interpretation of the substance of the dream is that the speaker is himself afraid of being lost, and the dream is the vehicle that allows the fear to be worked out.

In yet another interpretation, Kauvar applies Freud's method of dream analysis, with special attention to condensation and displacement. In her discussion of "A Dream," she contends that the dreamer creates a situation in which he rescues his lost mother (by means of his tears of pity, which summon the glow-worm).

But for Adams, "A Dream" succeeds because of its simplicity. He believes the treatment of reality--both innocence and experience--and the gentle, pitying tone of the speaker make this "one of Blake's finest lyrics" (233).

Wilkinson's survey of Songs scholarship serves as a cautionary note for critics. In it, he explores some of the difficulties created by insisting on interpreting all Blake's poetry in light of his overall system, by insisting on separating the speaker's voice in every song from Blake's voice, and by insisting on incorporating the design into the interpretation. Examining particular interpretations of a few select songs, he illustrates the chaos that can result from consistent adherence to these generally useful principles.

For "A Dream," there is little critical disagreement except as to the interpretation of the dream itself. As to agreement, one often suspects that failure to discuss a given issue indicates just that--agreement. "A Dream" seems to have safely escaped Wilkinson's chaos of interpretation.

Works Cited

Adams, Hazard. William Blake: A Reading of the Shorter Poems. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1963.

Bowring, John. Sacred Poetry (1873). Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Full-Text Database, 1992.

Colse, Peter. Penelopes Complaint (1596). Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Full-Text Database, 1992.

Gardner, Stanley. Blake's Innocence and Experience Retraced. London: Althone Press, 1986.

Gleckner, Robert F. The Piper & the Bard: A Study of William Blake. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1959.

Hirsch, E.D., Jr. Innocence and Experience: An Introduction to Blake. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Kauvar, Elaine M. "Blake's Interpretation of Dreams: 'Mental Forms Creating.'" American Imago 41.1 (1984): 19-45.

Pagliaro, Harold. Selfhood and Redemption in Blake's Songs. University Park: Penn State UP, 1987.

Wilkinson, D.R.M. "Blake's 'Songs': Taking Stock, 1984." English Studies 66.3 (1985): 227-40.