A Dream Pang
A Dream Pang - context Summary
Published in 1913
Published in 1913 in the collection A Boy's Will, Robert Frost’s "A Dream Pang" frames a brief dream of emotional withdrawal and tentative reconciliation. The poem presents a speaker who has retreated into the woods and whose absent song and inwardness are witnessed by a hesitant loved one who does not enter. Frost’s known preoccupation with domestic and marital tensions—often linked to his relationship with his wife Elinor—informs readings that see the poem as exploring distance, longing, and the quiet ache of missed communication that nevertheless allows for return and proof of presence.
Read Complete AnalysesI had withdrawn in forest, and my song Was swallowed up in leaves that blew alway; And to the forest edge you came one day (This was my dream) and looked and pondered long, But did not enter, though the wish was strong: You shook your pensive head as who should say, ‘I dare not—too far in his footsteps stray— He must seek me would he undo the wrong. Not far, but near, I stood and saw it all Behind low boughs the trees let down outside; And the sweet pang it cost me not to call And tell you that I saw does still abide. But ’tis not true that thus I dwelt aloof, For the wood wakes, and you are here for proof.
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