Literary notes about daydream (AI summary)
In literature, the term daydream is employed as a multifaceted device that captures both the allure of imaginative escape and the poignancy of interrupted reality. Authors use it to convey a gentle journey into the inner realms of hope and nostalgia, where a transient picture of an idealized world offers solace or inspiration ([1], [2]). Conversely, daydream also functions as a narrative interruption—pulling characters abruptly from their reveries back to a demanding, sometimes harsh, reality ([3], [4], [5]). In this way, daydream embodies the tension between the dissipation of youthful ideals and the grounding force of everyday existence, reflecting a spirit of wistful escapism while also highlighting the inevitable return to reality ([6], [7]).
- After all, it was only a daydream—a very pleasant picture.
— from Heriot's Choice: A Tale by Rosa Nouchette Carey - A magnificent daydream of wealth and empire so completely occupied the minds of men that they hardly felt the present distress.
— from The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 4 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron - So I roused me from my daydream, for I knew the song spoke true
— from Great Poems of the World War by William Dunseath Eaton - She was brought out of her daydream by her mother, who touched her arm gently and said, “Back to earth, dear.
— from Peggy Finds the Theatre by Virginia Hughes - At first he scarcely noticed, then gradually the song worked in with his daydream, and ended by rousing him out of it.
— from Sussex Gorse: The Story of a Fight by Sheila Kaye-Smith - We reached Green River by five, and waited until the ferryman awoke from his daydream to guide the flat-boat across the stream for us.
— from On a Donkey's Hurricane Deck A Tempestous Voyage of Four Thousand and Ninety-Six Miles Across the American Continent on a Burro, in 340 Days and 2 Hours, Starting Without a Dollar and Earning My Way by R. Pitcher (Robert Pitcher) Woodward - When he had written this title and drawn an ornamental line underneath he fell into a daydream and began to draw diagrams on the cover of the book.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
