AUTHOR NOTE
LAMB is the heir of the eighteenth-century essayists, but with a richer imagination and a
more delicate sensibility. He is an essayist rather than a story-teller,—an essayist of an
intense individuality. But he could dream dreams as the other poets have done; and here is
one of them, contained in the “Essays of Elia,” published in 1822.

Analysis
The response of children makes the essay dramatic and explains the effect of the essay on their mind. On the
one hand their actions make their characteristic features clear. For instance, Alice seemed to feel discomfort
when the grandmother’s ability to learn things by heart was mentioned. This shows that she was a typical child
who won’t like the mention of qualities of others that she found lacking in herself. When Lamb told them that
he preferred to see things at mansion rather than eating fruits, John put the grapes back. This shows his
innocence as well as his ability to control his senses.

These actions on the part of children also show that the children were feeling constantly influenced by their
father’s description.

The essay does not end before an unexpected turn is given to the events. The way it is mentioned that all the
description through the essay was based merely on a dream adds to a suspense element to the essay and also
makes it open ended. The ending makes the essay even more psychological than the mention of the narrator’s
feelings and the response of the children had made it.

The surprise ending also points towards the inability of Lamb to get his love responded positively by Alice. The
children that have been so close to him in his dream represent the ‘dream’ or aspirations that he had had while
trying to woo his beloved.

The relationships of the narrator with the grandmother and his brother have been described very clearly. This
description has served to clarify his characteristic features; develop the theme of family relationships as well as
the theme of loss; and, to make the essay dramatic.

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Charles Lamb's essay[edit]
The pieces are inspired by ‘Dream-Children ; A Reverie’, one of the Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb published in 1822,
[3]
 and Elgar inscribed on the score the following excerpt from the essay. The essay is in one paragraph of over four pages:
the writer imagines telling his 'little ones',[4] called Alice and John, some tales of their great-grandmother Field[5] and her
house, and of his own courtship, in hope and eventual despair, for another Alice[6] before, at the end of the essay,
mysteriously
* * * And while I stood gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter
to my view, receding, and still receding till nothing at last but two mourn-
ful features were seen in the uttermost distance, which, without speech,
strangely impressed upon me the effects of speech: "We are not of Alice,
nor of thee,[7] nor are we children at all. * * * *  [8]  We are nothing; less than
nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been."[9]  * * *
 The most striking thing shown in the essay is that Lamb, though a lifelong bachelor,
longed for family life which he was incapable of attaining. In a strange fit of passion he
imagined all this in a dream-like state.
The name 'Alice' was important in Elgar's life: not only was his great friend Alice
Stuart-Wortley his muse, but his wife was also Alice. ‘What might have been’ reflects a
constant nostalgia throughout Elgar’s music, and is the predominating mood of both
the Dream Children pieces, particularly the wistful No 1. No 2 is more smiling in tone,
but reverts to nostalgia at the end, where it quotes the theme which began No. 1.

====================================================================
=========
The theme of Lamb's essay is regret and loss: regret for unfulfilled joy, unfulfilled
love, lost hope, lost opportunity and lost joys of life. There are three topics describing
the theme of regret and loss at work in this essay.

The first of these is the loss of past happiness as represented by the house--with its carved
mantle that a "foolish rich person pulled ... down"--and by great-grandmother Field and by the
speaker's brother John.

Both great-grandmother Field and John died painful deaths while Charles Lamb watched on

being then left alone without their presence, love and care: what he missed most was their
presence: "I missed him all day long, and knew not till then how much I had loved him."

The second topic describing regret and loss is his beloved Alice. Lamb courted her "for seven
long years" and, in the end, his suit for her love was a failure. This explains why the dream child
is named Alice and this explains why he becomes confused about which Alice, younger or elder,
he is really looking at:

turning to Alice, the soul of the first Alice looked out at her eyes with such a reality of re-
presentment, that I became in doubt which of them stood there before me, or whose that
bright hair was ...

This leads to the third thematic topic: the children who never were. In a surprise ending, in a
dramatic (and at first bewildering) twist, we learn that the children he has been telling stories
to--stories of loves and life-joys he regrets losing--are air, are a figment of a dream in a
bachelor's sleep. These are the children that would have been, that could have been, that might
have been if Alice had granted Lamb her love and if they had wed. As it is, they are but
phantoms of a dream. All he really has is "the faithful Bridget [representative of Lamb's sister
Mary] unchanged by my side."
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Stylistic Analysis of the Essay:

 Repetition of ideas (stream of consciousness):

 Stream of consciousness is the style of writing in which the writer tells or narrates his ideas in
the flow as they appear in is mind. This is for writer’s catharsis, in which the writer repeats
certain ideas a number of times within the same piece of writing.
In the essay Dream Children, we can find such few examples. Consider the following extracts
from the essay:
1)“Then I went on to say, how good and how religious their great grandmother Field was.”
    “…because she had such a good and religious person”
  “….because I was never half so good or religious as she”
The idea of great-grandmother Field being very religious has been repeated thrice. This also
shows Lamb’s appreciation of morality and religiosity. Consider another example:
2)”Then I told how good she was to all her grand-children”
    “….. I told how, though their great-grandmother Field loved all her grand-children”
The idea that great-grandmother Field always loved all her grand-children has been repeated
twice in almost the same manner.

 Conversational and Informal Beginning:

Lamb’s manner of opening his essay is quite conversational and informal. Instead of being
aphoristic or didactic, he appears to begin in such a way as if he intends to share his experience
with his audience and make them his secret sharer. This is evident from the opening lines of the
essay as following:
“Children love to listen to stories about their elders, when they were children to stretch their
imaginatio……”

 Symbolism:
The use of symbols can also be seen in the essay Dream Children. Consider the following
symbols.
1)“All its old ornaments stripped”
Through this, Lamb hints upon the modernization of the society, in which people are forgetting
their culture and civilization. Lamb tells his dream children that the owner of their great-
grandmother’s Field house had moved to “more fashionable mansion which he had purchased
somewhere in the adjoining country”. But the old traditional ornaments looked odd and tawdry
in his new mansion.
2)“I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor arm-chair”
The bachelor arm-chair symbolizes Lamb’s loneliness and absence of a wife and family.

 Juxtaposition:
It is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are stated together. In this essay “Busy
Idle” is juxtaposition. His diversions kept his mind busy because he was constantly recalling the
events of the past. All the recalling was useless and there was no use of it in the present or maybe
he was idle and that’s why he kept his mind busy.
 “I had more pleasure in these busy-idle diversions than in all the sweet flavors of peaches,
nectarines, oranges and such-like common baits of children”

 Detailed description:
In his brief essay, Lamb employs detailed description of some events and places while he
narrates story to his children. A detailed account of John L- has been given, who represents
Lamb’s brother. Moreover, a detailed description of the great-grandmother Field’s house has
been given. Consider the following description in which Lamb describes the Norfolk house:
“…..I never could be tired with roaming about that huge mansion, with its vast empty rooms,
with their worn-out hangings, fluttering tapestry, and carved oaken panels, with the guilding
almost rubbed out…”
“….and how the nectrines and peaches hung upon the walls…….among the old melancholy-
looking yew trees, or the firs, and picking up the red berries, and the fir apples……with the
oranges and limes in that grateful warmth……”
Lamb’s desires reflected in his dream:
 Desire of marrying Ann:
Lamb wanted to marry Ann; the lady to whom he proposed. However, she rejected Lamb’s
proposal and married Bartrum instead. In his dream, Lamb sees a little girl Alice who looks likes
Ann. This reflects Lamb’s desire of marrying Ann.
 Desire of having Children:
Lamb did not marry in his life, as he had a mentally sick sister to take care of, as well as that the
lady he wanted to marry rejected his proposal. However, Lamb longed to have a wife and wanted
to have children. This desire of Lamb is evident from the very title of his essay “Dream
Children”.
 Desire of having a responsible brother:
Lamb’s elder brother did not support them and never took the responsibility of his sick sister. In
the form of John L – taking care of the lame-footed boy in Lamb’s dream, we observe Lamb’s
desire of having his brother as a responsible and caring person towards Lamb and their sister.

Themes:
 Children Psychology:
In the essay Dream Children, we say Lamb beautifully depicting children’s psychology as he
narrates his dream. Consider the following extract from the essay:
“…here Alice’s little right foot played an involuntary movement, till, upon my looking grave,
it desisted”
In the above extract, Lamb tells about children’s restless and impatient nature. It is hard for
children to sit still and concentrate on what is told to them. In agitation, they start looking here
and there, and move their limbs to satisfy themselves. However, when they find someone
noticing them, they immediately cease to move.
Following is another such example:
 “Here John slyly deposited back upon the plate a bunch of grapes, which, not unobserved by
Alice, he had meditated dividing with her, and both seemed unwilling to relinquish them for
the present as irrelevant”
In the above lines, Lamb depicts that food always baits children’s attention. Nothing attracts
them more than eatables. Once they find something to eat, they lose their concentration towards
every other thing happening to them. This is the innocence of their nature, and they can be easily
taken in or satisfied with the offer of a little eatable.
 Nostalgic effect (Memories):
The theme of memories and past days is quite prominent in this essay. Lamb appears to miss a
number of people including his grandmother, his brother, his love Ann and the past days of his
childhood he used to spend with his grandmother.
 Loneliness:
The theme of loneliness appears at the end of essay in the following lines:
“We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all. The children of Alice called
Bartrum father. We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have
been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have
existence and a name”
“…and immediately awaking, I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor arm-chair, where I
had fallen asleep”
After reading the above lines, the reader turns from happy children story to gloom as it is
discovered that all that happened earlier was just a dream, and in reality Lamb is alone and does
not have any wife or children.

The Three different places in the essay:

In this essay, there are three different settings:
1)      Lamb’s real world (the place where Lamb fell asleep on his arm-chair)
2)      The place in Lamb’s dream (where he was narrating story to is children)
3)      The place in the story which Lamb was narrating to his children in his Lamb

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