“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.

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