A Dream By William Allingham

A Dream By William Allingham Amanda Liang Sorry if it doesn’t make sense (>_<)

William Allingham • 19 March 1824 - 18 November 1889 • William Allingham was an Irish poet and civil servant. • His father was a shipping merchant. • The eldest of five children, his mother died when he was aged nine. • Allingham married the watercolourist Helen Paterson in 1874.

William Allingham • He began his career aged fourteen 1838, working in a bank but quit in 1846 to join the Customs Office. • In the late forties his poetry career began. While a visit in London in 1847, he met Leigh Hunt and two years later Coventry Patmore. • He even dedicated his first book of poems to Leigh Hunt. Later on, from 1850 to 1853, he became friends with members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, such as Alfred Tennyson and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. • From 1870 to 1879, Allingham worked as the sub-editor (and since 1874 as editor) of Fraser”s Magazine.

Themes >< • Death • Mother and Son relationship • Cycle of life • Can you think of any?

My Story Of “A Dream” (Maybe a dream) where William Allingham sees a parade under the moonlight. He realises they are the “Dead”, people whom he had known in the past. But in the crowd there was a special someone, Alingham’s mother whom died when he was nine. (Remember???) Ever since then, Allingham has always wanted to revisit that dream.

Imagery o.O • “I heard the dogs howl in the moonlight night;” Imagery and auditory is developed. Creates a late night atmosphere, where you hear dogs how at the moon. This also shows that there is full moon (as we experienced from the movie twilight how werewolves howl at night) • “And then a music so lofty and gay,” Creates a sense of calm from auditory imagery. As the dead is leaving, a cheerful music is played to enlighten the mood of departuring.

Repetitions • “On they passed, and on they passed;” The sense of flow is created. May indicate the life cycle and how the “flow” of the cycle is so smooth and so natural. • “Some…” (Read next slide) • Can you find any more???

Emphasizing the big crowd • “Going one by one and two by two.” *Marching couplets* (>_<) (Cute Eh???) • Repetition of “Some…” By dividing into categories, making it seems like a large crowd • “A long, long crowd – where each seemed lonely” Using adjectives to show the parade. They seem lonely is because they left their loved ones.

Death • “All the Dead that I knew” Did you notice it’s a capital D??? Reinforcing the importance. This also introduce the theme of death. Allingham shows that recognises the faces in the crowd. (foreshadowing about the mother??? ;]) • “Who weredrowned, I knew, in the awful sea.” Uncomfortable feeling is developed. It’s one of the causes of death. Describing the sea is “awful” because how it takes life away from us, making us feeling pain and loss. Sea contains water, which is essential to life. But it also can take it away lives from us. (Ironic???) x.x • “Many long-forgot, but remembered then” People generally forget the pain of the ones we lost and moves on in life.

Death and Cycle Of Life • “Some that loved, and gasped to speak to; … Some that I had not known were dead.” Everyone dies, even though the people who are close to you and people who is distant to you. • “Young and old, woman and men;” Again, part of the cycle of life we all will experience death, it’s just how long we get to live. Age is not always the matter of death.

Alliteration • “Townsfellow all, from first to last;” Slowing down the pace, like the poet is concentrating counting how many people there is in the crowd. • “Those were the strangest sight to me” Allingham is so surprised how he’s seeing the dead. By slowing down the pace showing his shock and surprise, and how its hard to say it out.

Oxymoron • “And first there came a bitter laughter;” Seems like a fake laugh. It’s really hard for the dead to laugh as they are leaving again and leaving their loved ones. OR The poet is the one who is bitter laughing, knowing this is a dream eventually he will not see his loved ones again (his mother). But still wants his mother to see he’s living happily.

William Allingham’s mother • “Yet of them all there was one, one only” Emphasizes a special someone. • “How long since I saw that fair pale face!” Showing that it has been a long time since Allingham had seen his mother. “fair pale face” may indicate that his mother died of sickness. • “Ah! Mother dear! Might I only place” It has revealed that the special someone is Allingham’s mother. “Dear” conveys Allingham’s mother is a very special person to him. The “!” mark also shows the excitement of Allingham seeing his mother after such long time.

William Allingham’s mother • “My head on thy breast, a moment to rest While they hand on my tearful cheek were pressed!” Enjambment – the separation between the narrator and his mother, showing the excitement. Mother and son relationship is also shown. • “ I strive to recall it if I may.” He constantly thinking about the dream. Indicate he really missing his mother and missing the relationship of mother and son. We all will miss our loved ones when they die.

Rhythm • The structure of the poem is AABB for each stanza. This may indicate the rhythm of how the parade is moving “Going one by one and two by two.”

Structure • Did you realize there is eight stanzas and each stanza has four lines, EXCEPT the last stanza. (Does this remind you of something?) The last stanza has 5 lines instead. This is maybe because Allingham lost his mother when he was 9, the poem only reached up to eighth stanza. This shows the Allingham doesn’t want to reach the ninth stanza where he lost him mother, so instead he decided to continue the eighth stanza with a fifth line.

Jokes…

A Dream By William Allingham