Last night I had the weirdest and most Early Modern dream I've ever had or expect to have. Not only was I John Donne--or at least inhabiting his body, more on which in a moment--but I was dying, dramatically, and trying to get home before I did. Most of the dream was about the slow and painful carriage ride home.
As Donne got out of the carriage and met some unspecified family members, he swooned, and I--apparently his soul or consciousness, not the physical man--watched all of this dispassionately, feeling very fresh and young indeed, and wondering idly what would happen to me when he died. Clearly I would survive this. Maybe I'd enter another body? Maybe I'd just sit out there as an untethered consciousness? The only thing that troubled me was whether I'd remember being attached to the body and perspective of this particular man, or would have to start fresh.
Whether this is an argument for or against my particular career path, I leave you to decide.
8 comments:
Well that puts ALL of my recent dreams to shame. Amazing! I love it!
Hilarious!
Yeah. . . I've never experienced anything like it before. I've NEVER had a dream that involved historical or literary figures (maybe a character from a t.v. show once or twice?), and I'm pretty sure I've never had a dream about death. But the soul/metempsychosis thing is what's truly bizarre. I've certainly read Early Modern theorizing about the soul--traduction vs. infusion and all that jazz--but it's not even what I work on, specifically.
On the other hand, I very rarely have good dreams--98% of my dreams are anxiety dreams--and the last thing I remember feeling before I woke up was great calm. Like, oh yeah: death. Just a little change; not a big deal.
So, um, yay?
That's wild and amazing! I once dreamed I met the Wife of Bath in the building where the English Department in which I did my Ph.D. was located and had a long conversation with her in the lounge. But still that does not come close to yous.
Anon:
I don't know; talking with the Wife of Bath is pretty damn cool. (I'm assuming she gave you personal and professional advice? The Wife of Bath strikes me as a natural life coach.)
I had to look up who John Donne was, and that sounds like a very cool dream!
Wow. It's one thing to meet the learned Dr. Donne in a dream but another thing to BE him.
It's like Being John Malkovich -- but with John Donne.
Post a Comment