It certainly can mean that. But in the context of the poem, what the narrator is doing is preparing to draw his audience deeply into the stories he is about to tell it of his days as a surgeon during the Civil War. His memories are "dreams" not in the sense of being false or imaginary, but in that they constantly haunt his mind. The terrible memories he relates to his immediate listeners are more real than the ever-changing world that quickly moves on, forgetting the horrors of war and other traumatic events:
But in silence, in dreams’ projections,
While the world of gain and appearance and mirth goes on,
So soon what is over forgotten, and waves wash the imprints off the sand,
With hinged knees returning I enter the doors, (while for you up there,
Whoever you are, follow without noise and be of strong heart.)
Notice also the contrast between the solidity of the "dreams' projections" and the transience of the everyday world of flux. These memories, these "dreams" are more real than the fleeting world around us. Indeed, in telling his story, the old man is consciously breaking off from the world of "gain and appearance and mirth" to reenter the doors of the military hospital as he relates his experiences to the assembled throng.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53027/the-wound-dresser
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Does the phrase, "in dreams' projections" mean he relives these scenes in his dreams?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Summarize the major research findings of "Toward an experimental ecology of human development."
Based on findings of prior research, the author, Bronfenbrenner proposes that methods for natural observation research have been applied in ...
-
The Awakening is told from a third-person omniscient point of view. It is tempting to say that it is limited omniscient because the narrator...
-
Roger is referred to as the "dark boy." He is a natural sadist who becomes the "official" torturer and executioner of Ja...
-
One way to support this thesis is to explain how these great men changed the world. Indeed, Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) was the quintes...
-
After the inciting incident, where Daniel meets his childhood acquaintance Joel in the mountains outside the village, the rising action begi...
-
The major difference that presented itself between American and British Romantic works was their treatment of the nation and its history. Th...
-
The Southern economy was heavily dependent upon slave labor. The Southern economy was agrarian; agriculture was its lifeblood, and being abl...
-
The first step in answering the question is to note that it conflates two different issues, sensation-seeking behavior and risk. One good ap...
No comments:
Post a Comment