The Day-Dream

An illustration to the 1830 version of the poem, by W. E. F. Britten (c. 1901)
"The maid-of-honour blooming fair, The page has caught her hand in his" —Illustrated under George T. Andrew (New York, c. 1885)

"The Day-Dream" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson that was published in 1842. It was an expanded version of his 1830 poem "The Sleeping Beauty". It was further altered in 1848 for a dramatic performance for a private gathering with Tennyson starring as the Prince. "The Day-Dream" discusses the nature of sleeping and of dreaming, especially in relation to individuals that would want to escape from reality. The poem also compares the act of poetry with dreaming and asserts that the two are the same.