Dream Children by Charles Lamb

One of the most remarkable of all personal essays in English, "Dream Children" Charles Lamb is perhaps the best piece he has written. 

It is a truly representative essay of Elia containing autobiographical charm, genuinely romantic appeal, and the most touching, gentle pathos, along with some habitual mysticism in which Lamb loved to indulge.

"Dream Children" Charles Lamb Analysis

This essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb, an exception from the usual compositions of Lamb, has an artistic unity of plot.

First, there is an introductory statement that children love to hear the story of their elders' childhood days. 

Then, one by one, we have the story of Lamb's grandmother, Mary Field, of Lamb himself as a boy—all the time keeping in front of readers the setting of the old mansion of which Field was the keeper— of Lamb's brother, John, and finally, of the supposed mother of the listeners, the dream children. 

Very artistically the essayist makes the children recede farther and farther from himself as if telling him that they are only dreams and have no real existence. 

That makes the entire experience a mere reverie of a bachelor. 

                                                  "Dream Children" Charles Lamb

                                       Photo by Bess Hamiti from Pexels

From a quiet beginning, "Dream Children" Charles Lamb unfolds rhythmically into an enjoyable development and finally ends in a dramatic note, leaving an everlasting impression of sweet pathos in the readers' minds.

One of the main attractions of the essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb  is the series of character sketches, of Mary Field, of John Lamb, and the speaker himself. 

Both Mary Field and John Lamb are idealized characters. Lamb's self-portrait is realistic. 

The two dream-children, Alice and John, are vividly presented as a small girl and a boy, with a realistic power of observation and profound creative sympathy. It is evident from their talks, manners, and gestures that the childless essayist had a keen knowledge of child psychology. 

The way John smiles at the foolishness of planting ancient furniture in a 'tawdry' modern drawing-room, and the way Alice's right foot plays `an involuntary movement' to her that their great grandmother was `esteemed the best dancer' in hearing youth, are masterstrokes of the observant lover of children that Lamb was.

The essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb betrays Lamb's characteristic love for the past and all that is ancient. 

It is part of his romanticism which empathizes with the ballads of the Middle Ages. 

He takes the opportunity of alluding to the ballad of the 'Children in the Wood' which had been carved on the wooden chimney-piece, whose substitution by a stone and tale-less chimney-piece by the rich owner of the mansion is gravely censured. 

The ancient mansion in Norfolk (actually in Hertfordshire) is lovingly described in detail: we see its big hall, stripped walls, the stone busts of twelve Caesars, the big rooms, the quiet garden with its various trees of fruits, orangeries, and the pond containing some variety of fishes. On the other hand, it sufficiently expresses the writer's dislike of the new and fashionable things and houses.

As for self-revelation, this essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb gives us the essential Charles with his fondness for isolation and dislike of boyish sports and adventures: 

how he- 

'used to spend hours by myself, in gazing upon the old busts of the twelve caesars...how the nectarines and peaches hung upon the walls, without my ever offering to pluck them...A had more pleasures in these busy-idle diversions than in all the sweet flavors of peaches, nectarines, oranges, and such-like common baits of children.' 

lie also talks of his lame footedness, and his close relationship to his brother John, at whose death- 

"I missed his kindness, and I missed his crossness, and wished him to be alive again, to be quarreling with him...rather than not have him again..."

Elements of poetry can be traced in many of Lamb's essays, but "Dream Children".Charles Lamb is the most poetic of them. 

Especially in the paragraph where Lamb tells the children about his way of spending time at his grandmother's house, the utterance has a Keatsean and romantic flavor, in particular- 

"used to spend hours by myself, in gazing upon the old bust of the twelve Caesars, that had been Emperors of Rome, till the old marble heads would seem to live again, or I to be turned into marble with them....and...or basking in the orangery, till I could almost fancy myself ripening too along with the oranges and the limes in that grateful warmth..."

This is pure poetry in prose, and the empathy with the object of observation is very much Keatsian. 

There is poetry too in the evocation of some imagery, such as that of the two infant spirits- 

"to be seen at midnight gliding up and down the great staircase." 

and the dream children waiting to be born 'upon the tedious shores of Lethe'. 

Moreover, the very reminiscent tone in which the tale is told in essentially, poetic and romantic.

The overall impact of the essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb is that of sweet pathos. 

The bachelor, who had the normal and intense desire to be a husband and father, was deprived of that pleasure in real life for having an insane sister to look after throughout his life. 

Here in this essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb makes an attempt of wish-fulfillment by imagining himself as the father of two children who sit close to him to listen to family stories featuring their parents. 

But the illusion of the reverie is bound 'to break at the end. The vanishing children seem to say- 

"We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all... we are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been..."

This is a greater pathos than that of John Lamb's death and moves the readers to tears. 

Along with the revelation of the facts of his own life, Lamb often indulges in a kind of harmless mysticism. Here too he alters certain facts and idealizes certain characters. 

But one easily sees through these disguises and exaggerations. 

The house which Mary Field kept was situated in Blakesware, Hertfordshire; but Lamb intentionally locates it in Norfolk just to jest with the readers. 

But though the essay "Dream Children" Charles Lamb was written shortly after his brother's death, he does not change the name of John, only he makes him more generous than he really was. 

The girl Lamb proposed to in real life was called Ann Simmons; here the sensitive writer changes the name to Alice; to lessen the pain of the traumatic experience. And his sister Mary, the cause of his permanent bachelorhood, is introduced here as cousin Bridget.

The style of the narration is lucid and smooth-flowing, even though some sentences are long-winded and contain parentheses. 

The narrative style has a double strand in which past and present are simultaneously presented: as the speaker talks about the Biblical knowledge of his grandmother, 'Alice spreads her hands', as a gesture of wonder. 

And this device continues throughout the story-telling; as he tells about the infant spirits which haunted the old house, and of his fear of them in his childhood,

 "John expanded all his eyebrows and tried to look courageous." 

Lamb is a master of beautiful expressive phrases like 'too tender to be called upbraiding',`grateful warmth', `impertinent friskings', `busy-idle diversions', 'haunted and haunted me', 'bachelor arm-chair' etc. 

Such is the quality of Lamb's art that he can create a sweet, lovable story for readers out of the tragedy of his own life, and does it in the best possible way in "Dream Children" Charles Lamb.