J. R. R. Tolkien repeatedly uses dreams and visions in his Middle-earth writings to create literary effects, allowing the narrative to transition between everyday reality and awareness of other kinds of existence. He follows the conventions of the dream vision in early medieval literature, and the tradition of English visionary writing of Edmund Spenser and John Milton.
A large number of dreams are described in The Lord of the Rings. Scholars have identified multiple functions for these, including hinting at panpsychism—with mind as a reality throughout the world and guidance by the godlike Valar, providing glimpses of paradise, and suggesting that evil characters can place false images in men's minds. A special case is the otherworldly Elvish land of Lothlórien, which resembles the dreamland of the medieval poem Pearl.