A Strange Little Dream Lyrics
A strange little dream runs down a long star-beam to curly-haired Fred asleep in bed. It slides under his eyelids and spreads into a picture: rivers, a treasure-box, floating in the air, a speaking beast, a royal feast, marble towers and a rope from the moon. Fred wakes too soon.
A Strange Little Dream
A Strange little Dream
On a long star-beam
Ran down from the midnight skies,
To curly-hair'd Fred
Asleep in his bed,
With the lids on his merry blue eyes.
Under each lid
The thin Dream slid,
And spread to a picture inside,
A new World there,
Most strange and rare,
Tho' just by our garden-side.
Rivers and Rocks,
And a Treasure-Box,
And Floating in Air without wings,
And the Speaking Beast,
And a Royal Feast,
My chair beside the King's;
A Land of Flowers,
And of lofty Towers
Carved over in marble white
With living Shapes
Of Panthers and Apes
That gambol in ceaseless flight;
And a Cellar small
With its Cave in the Wall
Stretching many a mile underground!
And the Rope from the Moon! -
Fred woke too soon,
For its end could never be found.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-strange-little-dream/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- William Allingham
- Tune
- Hushed and wondering at first, speeding up through the list of marvels
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| And Floating in Air without wings | Stretch your arms out wide and rise onto tiptoe. |
| Fred woke too soon | Open your eyes wide and sit up. |
What Does A Strange Little Dream Mean?
The dream is the star of the poem. It arrives on a star-beam, slides under Fred's eyelids and unrolls like a picture book. What he sees is a list of marvels: rivers and rocks, a treasure-box, floating in the air without wings, a beast that speaks, a royal feast with his chair beside the King's, a land of flowers with marble towers, and a long cave. Dreams really do mix up odd things like this, which is what makes the poem feel true.
The poem uses capital letters for the big marvels (Dream, World, Treasure-Box, King), as if each one were a character. The last picture is a rope hanging from the moon. Fred wakes too soon, because its end could never be found. The poem ends with a mystery still unsolved, which children enjoy.
History and Origin
William Allingham, an Irish poet, wrote the verses in Rhymes for the Young Folk, a book of poems for children. Poems about dreams are a long tradition in children's verse, and this one imagines a dream as a small visitor who travels to the bedroom along starlight.
Learning Activities
- Dream telling: in the morning, ask the child to tell one thing from a dream and draw it.
- Make your own marvel: add a new image to the list, such as a flying bicycle or a talking teapot.
- Star-beam story: pretend to slide down a long star-beam from the ceiling to the child's pillow.
- Rope from the moon: wonder together where the rope might lead and what is waiting at the other end.