From the musical les Misérables. This song is sung by the character named Fantine. She thought this man
truly loved her. She thought that they were both meant to be. She ended up pregnant, and then he left her.
He shattered her hopes. She thought he was truly in love with her, but in the end it was a lie.
I Dreamed A Dream (Les Misérables)
There was a time when men were kind
Content: She is saying there was a man that cared about her
and she thought he was truly in love with her.
When their voices were soft
Poetic device: Personification - giving a human characteristic to a
And their words inviting
non human thing. "Love was blind." There are people that are
There was a time when love was blind
blind, but love can't be literally blind.
And the world was a song
Poetic device: Metaphor - Saying something is something. In this case saying
"the world was a song."
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Poetic device: Alliteration - Repeated consonant sounds "went wrong."
Then it all went wrong
Both words start with W.
Poetic device:
Repetition Repeated
words that are
the same.
Saying "I
dreamed"
twice.
I dreamed a dream in times gone by
Content: She dreamed that life was amazing and that she had so
many hopes and good sprit. That we have to always love life and
When hope was high
enjoy every moment.
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
Content: Those dreams that you thought of, but you no
And dreams were made and used and wasted
longer care about anymore. It was all a waste hoping for
them.
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
Content: Those people convincing you, tricking you
into believing and trusting them. All those things
they've said to you was a lie. They ruin you,
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he’ll come to me
That we’ll live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
Content: She's saying that she thought life would be
different. She though that life would be happy and
joyful. But as she grew older life was more different
than what she expected. It was more like a
nightmare.
Poetic device: Personification - Giving a human characteristic to non
human thing. Saying that "life killed the dream I dreamed." People kill, but
"life" does not.