A dream vision or ''visio'' is a literary device in which a dream or vision is recounted as having revealed knowledge or a truth that is not available to the dreamer or visionary in a normal waking state. While dreams occur frequently throughout the history of literature, visionary literature as a genre began to flourish suddenly, and is especially characteristic of early medieval Europe. In both its ancient and medieval form, the dream vision is often felt to be of divine origin. The genre reemerged in the era of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, when dreams were regarded as creative gateways to imaginative possibilities beyond rational calculation. This genre typically follows a structure whereby a narrator recounts their experience of falling asleep, dreaming, and waking, with the story often an

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

. The dream, which forms the subject of the poem, is prompted by events in their waking life that are referred to early in the poem. The ‘vision’ addresses these waking concerns through the possibilities of the imaginative landscapes offered by the dream-state. In the course of the dream, the narrator, often with the aid of a guide, is offered perspectives that provide potential resolutions to their waking concerns. The poem concludes with the narrator waking, determined to record the dream – thus producing the poem. The dream-vision convention was widely used in European, Old Russian,

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, and other literatures.

Visions in medieval European literature

In the book "Medieval Latin visions", Russian philologist Boris Yarkho explores the genre of dream visions, defining it in terms of form and content. To the formal aspects of the genre, the researcher refers, first, the didacticism of the genre of visions itself, which should reveal some truths to the reader; secondly, the presence of the image of a "

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

" (or visionary), which has two functions: "he must perceive the content of the vision purely spiritually" and "must associate the content of the vision with sensory images".Ярхо, Борис Исаакович. Из книг�
«Средневековые латинские видения»
// Восток-Запад: Исследования, переводы, публикации. Вып. 4. — М.: Наука, 1989. — Third, the formal aspects include ''psychophysiological phenomena'', that is, the situation and circumstances of the vision: ''

lethargy Lethargy is a state of tiredness, sleepiness, weariness, fatigue, sluggishness, or lack of energy. It can be accompanied by depression, decreased motivation, or apathy. Lethargy can be a normal response to inadequate sleep, overexertion, overw ...

'', ''

hallucinations A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...

'' and '' dreams''. The content of the genre of visions is based on the description of pictures of the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

and ''phenomena of otherworldly forces'', as well as

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...

. In addition, medieval visions can also be filled with topical content that is adjacent to the "eternal", that is, the afterlife, the otherworldly: socio-political contexts can penetrate into the visions, etc. Yarkho pays attention to the internal structure of visions, distinguishing two types — "one-vertex" visions and "multi-vertex" (eschatological) visions. The structure of the second type of vision can be "archaic", "classical", or " complexly systematized». On the Genesis of medieval visions, Rosalia Shor writes in the Literary encyclopedia (1929-1939):

Until the
12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...
, all the visions were written in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, from the 12th century there are translated ones, and from the 13th — there are original visions in folk languages. The most complete form of visions is represented in the Latin poetry of the clergy: this genre is closely related to canonical and apocryphal religious literature and is close to Church preaching

The peak of the medieval vision genre is considered to be

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's "

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

", which can be called a detailed vision, based on its narrative and compositional features.

The deformation of the genre of visions

In the course of evolutionary development, the genre of visions in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an literature undergoes natural historical changes: visions are beginning to be used by authors as a means of transmitting

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

content, for writing pamphlets on topical circumstances. As R. O. Shor notes,

since the Tenth century, the form and content of visions have provoked protest, often from the declassified layers of the clergy themselves (poor clerics and goliard schoolboys). All this results in periodic visions. On the other hand, the form of visions is taken over by courtly chivalrous poetry in folk languages: visions here acquire a new content, becoming a frame of love-didactic allegory — such as, for example, "Fabliau dou dieu d'amour" (the Story of the God of love), " Venus la déesse d'amors" (
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
— the goddess of love) and finally-the encyclopedia of courtly love-the famous " Roman de la Rose" of Guillaume de Lorris.

Visions in Old Russian literature

The genre of visions was one of the typical genres of Old Russian literature, in addition, its individual elements could penetrate into the structure of other genres of Old Russian works. For example, Nikolai Prokofiev discovered the features of the genre of visions in stories, walks, lives, signs, and many other sources.Nikolai Prokofiev. Vision as a genre in Ancient Russian literature / / Uchenye zapiski MSPI im. V. I. Lenin. - M., 1964. - Vol. 231: Voprosy stila khudozhestvennoy literatury. - p. 37-38 The composition of the traditional Old Russian vision is as follows: the plot begins with a prayer that precedes psychophysiological states, which are accompanied by visions. Then the hero sees otherworldly forces, which, showing the visionary a "

revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

", solve some question. The fear of the clairvoyant is described, after which the meaning of the "revelation" itself is revealed. In conclusion, these same forces call on the visionary to preach what he has seen. The nature of the images in the Old Russian visions is twofold: they can be both characters of

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, which do not need interpretation, and symbolic or allegorical images of living nature (going back to the Old Russian pagan beliefs). Exploring the genesis of visions, Nikolai Prokofiev raises them to the genre of dreams, very popular in ancient times.

The heroes of the Old Russian epic are often
gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
, and this phenomenon is usually given in dreams.

Some researchers conclude that the genre of visions gradually disappears from literature after the Peter the Great era. Russian writer Alexander Pigin, who in his book "Visions of the Other World in Russian Handwritten books" cites a whole body of texts that indicate that the genre of visions in the Russian handwritten tradition does not die in the XIX—XX centuries, and also draws attention to the lack of knowledge of the genre.Alexander Pigin. Visions of the Other world in Russian handwritten books. - St. Petersburg, 2006. - p. 3-21. А. В. Пигин. Видения потустороннего мира в русской рукописной книжности. СПб.: Дмитрий Буланин, 2006. Defining the subject of the Old Russian visions, he speaks of "small

", that is, the doctrine of the posthumous fate of the human soul, and of "big eschatology" - the doctrine of the end of the world:

The subject of the visions is "small" (or "private")
eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...
, since all the interest in them is focused on the posthumous fate of the individual.

Pigin points out that visions as a genre have their roots in archaic animistic beliefs, and ideas about the "other world" are found in all peoples.

Authors and works

Latin

Ancient Roman

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, ''Soliloquia'' *

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

, '' De consolatione philosophiae'' *

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, '' Dream of Scipio'' * Macrobius, ''Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio''

Medieval Latin

* John Gower, Vox Clamantis Book One is an account of the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...

* Alain de Lille, ''De planctu naturae'' *Brother Marcus, '' Visio Tnugdali'' ("The Vision of Tundale")

French

* Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, '' Roman de la rose'', also translated into Middle English by

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

* Marie de France, ''The Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick'' *''Le Chemin de Povreté et de Richesse'', a 14th-century dream poem incorporated in '' Le Ménagier de Paris'' *'' Le Chemin de long estude'', by Christine de Pizan

Irish

Italian

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, '' The Divine Comedy'' depicts the conventions of dream-vision literature, though Dante specifically says that his vision is not a dream

Old English

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, ''Vision of Drycthelm'' *Anonymous, '' The Dream of the Rood'' – the guide in '' Dream of the Rood'' is the Cross on which

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

was crucified.

Middle English

, '' Legend of Good Women'', '' House of Fame'', '' Book of the Duchess'', '' Parliament of Fowls'' – ''The Parliament of Fowls'' features a dream vision in which the narrator falls asleep while reading the Dream of Scipio and is ushered into a walled garden. He is chaperoned in the dream briefly by Scipio the Elder himself. * William Langland, '' Piers Plowman'' or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is an apocalyptic

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

allegorical narrative attributed to William Langland, one of the great works of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

. It is written in unrhymed

alliterative verse In meter (poetry), prosody, alliterative verse is a form of poetry, verse that uses alliteration as the principal device to indicate the underlying Metre (poetry), metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly s ...

divided into sections called ''passus'' (Latin for "step"). * Sir John Clanvowe, ''The Cuckoo and the Nightingale'' *Anonymous, ''Parlement of the Ages'' *Anonymous, ''

Wynnere and Wastoure Wynnere and Wastoure ("Winner and Waster") is a fragmentary Middle English poem written in alliterative verse around the middle of the 14th century. Manuscript The poem occurs in a single manuscript, British Library Additional MS. 31042, also cal ...

'' *

Pearl Poet The "Gawain Poet" ( ; late 14th century), or less commonly the "Pearl Poet",Andrew, M. "Theories of Authorship" (1997) in Brewer (ed). ''A Companion to the Gawain-poet'', Boydell & Brewer, p.23 is the name given to the author of ''Sir Gawain a ...

, ''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

'' *'' The Vision of Tundale'', a translation from the Latin ''Visio Tnugdali''. *

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury () was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...

, ''The Temple of Glass''

Modern English

* John Bunyan, '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' * Percy Bysshe Shelley, '' The Triumph of Life'' *

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

, '' News from Nowhere'', '' A Dream of John Ball'' *

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

, '' The Great Divorce'' tells of a dream vision in which the author joins a group of the damned on a vacation bus trip to heaven, where they encounter various figures from their own pasts who try to entreat them to come and join the company of those in heaven. *

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...

, " Hotel California" *

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's "

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

" (1865 ) is in the form of a dream vision. *

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's (Irish novelist) "

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

" (1939) consists of an immense cosmic dream.

Spanish

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

' ''Las ruinas circulares'' (''The Circular Ruins'') – A man dreams another person into existence, only to discover that he himself is also a dream. *

' ''El otro'' (''The Other'') – The narrator (Borges himself) meets a younger version of himself, and they each believe the other is a dream. * Julio Cortázar's ''La noche boca arriba'' (''The Night Face Up'') – A man switches between modern reality and an Aztec human sacrifice, with a final twist revealing which is the true dream.

Old Russian

* '' The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' * '' Praying'' of Daniel the Immured * '' About the whole thing'' * '' Depth Book'' * And some Old Russian letopises.

Scottish Gaelic

Ukrainian

*See also Ukrainian literature *

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

's ''The Dream''

Welsh

*Anonymous, '' The Dream of Rhonabwy'', possibly a satire on the medieval dream vision *Anonymous, '' The Dream of Macsen Wledig''

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dream Vision Allegory Medieval literature Mysticism Poetry Religious literature *