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Let’s read the poem to understand what dreams are made of.

Dreams are but interludes which Fancy makes;

When monarch Reason sleeps, this mimic wakes

Compounds a medley of disjointed things,

A mob of cobblers, and a court of kings

Light fumes are merry, grosser fumes are sad;

Both are the reasonable soul run mad;

And many monstrous forms in sleep we see,

That neither were, nor are, nor e’er can be.

Sometimes forgotten things long cast behind

Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind.

The nurse’s legends are for truths received,

And the man dreams but what the boy believed.

Sometimes we but rehearse a former play,

The night restores our actions done by day;

As hounds in sleep will open for their prey.
interlude: a period or event that comes
In short, the farce of dreams is of a piece, between two others and is different from
them
fancy: imagination
Chimeras all; and more absurd, or less. reason: good judgement
mimic: someone who imitates (here)
—John Dryden imagination
medley: a mixture
disjointed: unconnected
grosser: larger
e’er: short for ‘ever’
farce: something that is so bad that it is
About the Poet seen as ridiculous
John Dryden (1631–1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and Chimera: (say kai-meer-uh) a Greek
playwright. He was appointed as England’s first Poet Laureate in 1668. mythological creature with a lion's head, a
goat's body, and a snake's tail

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