Question

Describe the unicorn in the poem 'Dreaming the Unicorn' by Tony Mitton.

Answer 1

When we come to discuss the poem's form, we can say that it comprises six verses of varying length, and also employs an irregular rhyme scheme. It tells the story of the poet's dream in which he saw a beautiful unicorn in a forest. He wakes to find a strand of the unicorn's hair on his pillow, and keeps it thereafter.

The poem evokes a dreamy, romantic atmosphere with its smooth phrases and rhymes, the depiction of a still and silent forest, and the central image of the unicorn - a mythical creature and traditionally a symbol of unearthly beauty and purity. The colour descriptions - 'pearly white', 'silver', and so on - also increase the vividness of the whole enchanting scene. However, there is also a note of melancholy as the unicorn seems to regard the poet as an interloper, as though he has no business in a place of such heavenly beauty and calm. This causes him confusion:

Answer 2

Dreaming the unicorn =

Dreaming the Unicorn

I dreamed I saw the Unicorn last night.

It rippled through the forest, pearly white,

breathing a moonlit silence.

Its single horn stood shining like a lance.

I saw it toss its head and snort and prance

and paw the midnight air.

Its mane was like a mass of silver hair.

But suddenly it shuddered.

It sensed my spellbound gaze,

my wondering eyes,

and turned to look upon me with surprise,

seeming to read my face and looking as if to say,

“You are not from this place. What is your business here?”

But suddenly it shuddered.

It sensed my spellbound gaze,

my wondering eyes,

and turned to look upon me with surprise,

seeming to read my face and looking as if to say,

“You are not from this place. What is your business here?”

A sudden rush of rapid midnight breeze,

that felt both chill and deep,

awoke me from my sleep,

and there upon the pillow by my head

I found a strand of shining silver thread.

I kept that strand of mane,

I keep it, still,

inside a box upon my window sill.

And when the world hangs heavy on my brain,

it helps me dream the Unicorn again.

Hope it helps