A dream vision or visio is a literary device in which a dream or vision is recounted as having revealed knowledge or a truth 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, in 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, when dreams were regarded as creative gateways to imaginative possibilities beyond rational calculation.
This genre typically follows a structure whereby a narrator recounts his experience of falling asleep, dreaming, and waking, and the story is often an allegory. The dream, which forms the subject of the poem, is prompted by events in his 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 his 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 literature from late Latin times until the 15th century.
Daydream, why do you haunt me so
Deep in a rosy glow
The face of my love you show
Daydream, I walk along on air
Building a castle there
For me and my love to share
Don’t know the time, lordy
I’m in a daze
Sun in the sky, while I moon around, feeling, hazy
Daydream, don’t break my reverie
Until I find that he,
Is daydreaming just like me
Daydreams, why do you haunt me so
While I’m in this rosy glow
Bring back my love
Bring back my love
Bring back my love
To me