# The Bondwoman's Dream explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Taras Shevchenko.

## What happens

A bondwoman, exhausted from reaping wheat, tends to her infant son and dreams of a future where he is free, prosperous, and independent. She wakes to her harsh reality and returns to her labor, hoping the dream may one day come true.

## Themes in this chapter

### Motherhood and Sacrifice

The bondwoman's nurturing of her child amidst exhaustion and her dream of his future freedom highlight the sacrifices of motherhood.

### Social Injustice and Class

The bondwoman's status as a slave and her dream of her son being 'no longer the landlord’s but his own man' underscore class oppression and the desire for liberation.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The bondwoman, a slave who reaps wheat and dreams of her son's freedom.

### The Servant

The bondwoman is a servant, forced to work in the fields and care for her child.

## Key lines

> The slave with sickle reaped the wheat, Then wearily limped among the stooks; But not to rest, Her little son she sought Who wakened crying in cool nest among the sheaves.

The enslaved woman harvested wheat with a sickle, then limped tiredly through the grain stacks, not to rest but to find her crying baby hidden among the sheaves.

_Establishes the bondwoman's grueling labor and maternal duty._

> In dreams she saw her little son, Her Johnny, grown to man, handsome and rich. No lonely bachelor but a married man In freedom it seemed, no longer the landlord’s but his own man.

She dreamed of her son Johnny as a grown, handsome, and wealthy man, married and free, no longer owned by the landlord but independent.

_The dream contrasts her current bondage with a vision of freedom and prosperity for her son._

> The poor thing laughed in her sleep, Woke up⁠— a dream indeed it was. She looked at Johnny, picked him up and swaddled him, And back to her allotted task; Sixty stooks her stint.

The poor woman laughed in her sleep, then woke to realize it was only a dream. She picked up Johnny, wrapped him, and returned to her assigned work of stacking sixty sheaves of grain.

_The harsh return to reality after the dream emphasizes the gap between hope and her daily oppression._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters/the-bondwoman-s-dream
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_22_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_22_se/chapters