Beautiful Dreamer Examples

"Beautiful Dreamer" is a love poem (also turned into a love song) written by Stephen Foster. This is the full text of the poem:

Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd a way!

Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng,-
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea
Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.

Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,-
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

In the poem, the speaker is encouraging a "beautiful dreamer," perhaps his lover, to wake to an enchanted night with him where "starlight and drewdrops" await. Away from the "sounds of the rude world" or "the cares of life's busy throng," the speaker asks the beautiful dreamer to join him in a night of enchantment-"out on the sea / Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie." If the "beautiful dreamer" listens, the speaker promises a night away from the cares and sorrows of the world-if only the "beautiful dreamer" would "awake unto me" (unto the speaker). She is the "morn" on his sea ("beam on my heart"), and she will cause "all clouds of sorrow" to "depart" for the speaker.

The rhyme scheme in stanzas 1 and 3 is AABB and in stanzas 2 and 4 is ABABB. The poet has used dactyls throughout the poem-feet with a stressed followed by two unstressed syllables.

Example: Beautiful dreamer awake unto me.

E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea.