The Dream Vision

Here are some disjointed paragraphs from my earl draft on the Dream Vision. I only used one source so far, but this one source has a lot of useful information. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. 

The Medieval Dream Vision

By: Caitlin Hart (Research Blog) 

The “dream vision” is a medieval work of literature, which takes advantage of medieval dream psychology's acceptance of the notion that some types of dreams could communicate wisdom to the dreamer.  In most cases the source of the dream vision is brought on by either God or the devil; however, the dream vision can also be the product of the dreamers own conscious attempting to relate something important to the dreamer. According to Stephen Russel in his book The English Dream vision: Anatomy of a Form, the typical stages of a dream vision include “the first person account of a dream; the dream report is usually preceded by a prologue introducing the dreamer as a character and often followed by an epilogue describing the dreamer's reawakening and recording the dream report in verse” (5). In simpler terms, the dreamer falls asleep in the middle of a crisis of some sort (usually emotional). The dreamer then finds himself (the dreamer is almost always male) in a fantastical place, somewhere almost too good to be true. This unearthly place is usually a enclosed garden, or hortus conclusus. The dreamer then encounters a guide figure who leads the dreamer through the dream itself. The dreamer asks the guide several questions about the significance of the vision, however the dreamer is usually displeased with the results the guide provides. Finally, the dreamer is awaken by something in the dream before he can interpret the full meaning of the dream, however the reader is left with enough information to try and interpret the dream.

            In order to be considered a dream vision a poem must contain specific motifs, as well as be the product of a poet who is deliberately attempting to follow the specific traditions of the genre (Russel 2). The dream vision was considered a deliberate form of literature and not just as collection of similar motifs. According to Russel “the introduction to the dreamer, the dreamer's allusive distress, his insomnia and diversions, and his appearance as the cen- tral character in the dream report all suggest that the motifs work together to help determine the structure of the poem” (7).

            The “dream vision” was not always referred to by that name. According to Russel, “no medieval writer ever used the term ‘dream vision’ or discussed this kind of poem” (3). Even Chaucer referred to his, now famous, dream vision poems as tragedies, comedies, books, or things. He did not have a single term to exclusively name his dream-framework.

Cicero's poem Somnium Scipionis, otherwise known as “The Dream of Scipio”, introduces a special version of the dream vision not typically shared by many medieval versions: the soul flight. In this version, the guide figure takes the dreamer into the heavens from which they can contemplate the entirety of human and divine existence.

Origin

Examples 

Authors

Changes/Types

Work Cited 

  Russell, J. Stephen. “The English Dream Vision: Anatomy of a Form”. Columbus: Ohio State UP. 1988. Print.