A couple of days ago I woke up several times during the
night (sigh…) and each time was thinking about 4 words which I wrote down when
I finally got up. Those words were –
fields, barley, rye and shimmering.
I have never dreamed, as far as I know, in a collection
of words like that. So I decided to see
if there was any significance.
And, what do you know, Mr Google's first responses
included the first stanza of Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott. Not a poem I have read for years and years.
This is the first verse:
On either
side the river lie
Long fields
of barley and of rye,
That clothe
the wold and meet the sky;
And thro'
the field the road runs by
To
many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and
down the people go,
Gazing where
the lilies blow
Round an
island there below,
The island
of Shalott.
As soon as I saw this, I felt sure that was what the
dream was referring to. But I have no
idea what its deeper significance is.
The Lady of Shalott is a fabulous poem but it is long –
if you would like to read it – click here
for a text version of the whole thing.
The poem inspired several famous paintings – one of
which is the one at the top of this post – by John William Waterhouse
Interesting!
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