Poetry · Chapter
A Dream of Waking explained
A poem about an unwanted child born in sin and shame, rejected by his mother, but defended by a sister-babe who pleads with their mother to keep him.
What happens
A poem about an unwanted child born in sin and shame, rejected by his mother, but defended by a sister-babe who pleads with their mother to keep him. The sister's desperate cry for the child ends in a prophetic agony, questioning when they will wake from the earthly dream of suffering.
Themes in this chapter
Childhood and Innocence
The sister-babe's innocent plea to keep the baby contrasts with the mother's hardened heart.
Suffering and Purification
The child's birth in sin and shame, the mother's rejection, and the sister's grief all point to suffering that seeks transcendence.
Characters to notice
- Baby
The unwanted child born in sin and shame, rejected by his mother but defended by his sister.
- The Child-Mother
The sister-babe who pleads with her mother to keep the baby, showing compassion and prophetic insight.
- Unknown
The narrator describing the scene of rejection and the sister's plea.
Key passages
“A child was born in sin and shame, Wronged by his very birth, Without a home, without a name, One over in the earth.”
An illegitimate child was born, rejected from the start, with no place or identity in the world.
Sets up the theme of the child's unwantedness and social stigma.
“Mother! when shall we wake?”
Mother, when will we awaken from this painful dream of life?
The sister's prophetic cry for an end to earthly suffering.