# On Dreaming explained — Olney Hymns

> Chapter companion for Olney Hymns by John Newton.

## 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.

## Themes 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters/98-on-dreaming
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/olney_hymns_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/olney_hymns_se/chapters