Poetry · Chapter
A Gift explained
The speaker offers a gift of a dream to a sleeping beloved, painting a vision of a violet sky, crescent moon, and a temple built from nature's elements—hills, stars, ocean, and wind—that mirrors the beloved's soul and unites heaven and eart
What happens
The speaker offers a gift of a dream to a sleeping beloved, painting a vision of a violet sky, crescent moon, and a temple built from nature's elements—hills, stars, ocean, and wind—that mirrors the beloved's soul and unites heaven and earth.
Themes in this chapter
Nature as Divine Revelation
The dream temple is built from natural elements—hills, stars, ocean, wind—revealing the divine through nature.
Longing for Immortality
The speaker's gift of a dream temple suggests a desire for a timeless, eternal creation.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“My gift would find thee fast asleep, And arise a dream in thee;”
My gift will come to you while you sleep and become a dream within you.
The gift manifests as a dream for the sleeping beloved.
“And a crescent moon from my sky should creep In the golden dream to thee.”
A crescent moon from my sky will steal into your golden dream.
The moon is a key image in the dream vision.
“And build thee a temple, glory-kissed, In the heart of the sunny clime;”
I will build for you a temple touched by glory in the center of a sunny land.
The temple is a central symbol of the dream.
“Its pillars the solemn hills should bind ’Neath arches of starry deeps;”
Its pillars will be the solemn hills, bound under arches of starry depths.
The temple's architecture is made from natural elements.
“And the stars of my sky thy sky will climb, And with heaven roof in the whole.”
The stars from my sky will climb into your sky and roof the entire vision with heaven.
The dream culminates in a heavenly canopy.