Essay: "Dream Children, A Reverie." Charles Lamb.

Ten-second review: The narrator reminisces about the days of his youth at the huge house occupied by Grandmother Field, its caretaker, and her brother Uncle John. The reverie ends when we find that the narrator is a bachelor with no children, and his two dream children with whom he has been sharing his memories fade from reality as he awakes from a nap.

Quote:

“ ‘We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all…. We are nothing, less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and a name’—and immediately awaking I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor armchair, where I had fallen asleep….”

Great Essays. Ed. Houston Peterson. New York: Washington Square Press, Inc. 1960.

What is an essay? “They are all prefaces. A preface is nothing but a talk with the reader; and they [essays] do nothing else.” Charles Lamb.