Example
Dream Essay, Example Composition Writing on
Describing a Dream
Essay 1: Lost in the Wilderness Dream
{1} On the way to a mountain in the dead of winter, I dropped behind
the group I was traveling with and got lost. To make matters worse,
it began to rain heavily. The wind blew hard, and the blasted forest
groaned as if in pain. And so overcast was the sky that night came
several hours earlier than usual. Cold and frightened, I was
trembling all over. All I could do was shout for help, but no help
was forthcoming. The night became darker, the wind blew harder, and
the rain poured down more heavily. I ate my last piece of food, a
tiny piece of cake. Totally despaired, I was waiting not for miracle
but for death. Suddenly, a thunderclap woke me up. A rainstorm was
indeed raging outside, but I was grateful to find that I only had a
nightmare.
{2} I had a wonderful dream not very long ago. In the dream, I found
myself suddenly able to swim. I swam freely in the sea, where I saw
many strange trees and plants I had never seen before. While I was
swimming, some brightly colored fish followed me. When I stopped,
they all flocked around me, as if anxious to know who I was. To my
amazement, I found they could talk! So we struck up an interesting
conversation. We became good friends and lived together. In my
happiness in the fantasy land, I forgot all my troubles. In fact, I
forgot that I was a human being. Unfortunately, however, this
wonderful life didn't last too long, for soon the dream ended and I
woke up to face the real world again.
Essay 2: A Dream Last Night
I
had a dream last night – a vivid dream. I was in a group of people,
but I was alone. At least I did not have the feeling that I knew
any of the minions around me. I was standing against a wall,
observing the passing people, when someone approached me.
At
first, I thought it was three females but soon it was only one.
“Hi, Eric. Long time no see,” she said.
She
was a gorgeous young woman with frizzy black hair; she was wearing a
very short dress that emphasized her curvy figure. I did not
recognize her nor have a clue of her identity and began searching my
mind for a glimmer of recognition. I could not find one.
“Have we met?” I finally asked.
She
was still smiling when she answered, “You said you would never
forget me.”
Her
flashing eyes, dark as night, gazed directly into my brain. She was
standing very close to me, invading my private space but I did not
recoil. Her body was so warm that she lit a fire in my soul,
heating my psyche almost to the point of boiling. I did not know
her name but somehow felt as though I had known her forever.
“I’ve had a sudden attack of Alzheimer’s,” I said.
She
moved closer to me, static electricity raising the hairs on my
chest. I had raised my palm to halt her advance. Instead, I took
her hand in mine and pulled her toward me until her body’s warmth
began overloading my senses.
“I’m Esme,” she said.
Esme grasped my face and kissed me. Our embrace was slow, soft and
sensual. I did not know this woman, but it did not matter. We
were, at that moment, as close as any two individuals could ever
be. She pulled away, but only to turn her back to me so that I
could stroke her neck and let my hands trace a downward path.
I
lifted the edge of her short dress stroking her legs and rear with
my fingers. She turned her head toward me, reveling in my touch and
then kissed me one last time before dissolving away like a
smoldering flame.
I
was still hot when I awoke, Esme’s beautiful eyes, and her cat-like
smile imprinted on my brain. Even though I did not recognize her, I
somehow felt that I had known her all my life. Maybe it was in
another life or perhaps she is someone that lives in that dark and
mysterious realm that is our dream world.
Essay 3:
I Had a Dream Last Night
I Had A Dream Last
Night
I had a dream last night. I was going to be teaching some students
Basic College Mathematics in a classroom suffused with a golden
glow. It was our first day together and we were getting to know each
other. I asked them about their past experiences in Mathematics
classes. A couple of girls at the front said they enjoyed
mathematics and found it interesting and beautiful. What a joy to
have them in my class, I thought. Not so for the rest of the class.
They had so many horror stories about their encounters with Math
teachers and the way they were made to feel when they couldn’t do
the mathematics that I soon became depressed and decided not to ask
them any more questions on that subject.
We started off with some simple arithmetic. Whole number addition
seemed ok for them; only one or two had difficulty. Whole number
subtraction caused more problems; some of their algorithms for
performing the operation seemed almost haphazard, subtracting from
top or bottom depending on which was the larger digit, with tiny
marks scribbled in the most unlikely places. Multiplication was not
too bad except for the occasional zero appearing on the end of one
row of digits or another, like an uninvited guest at a wedding
trying to get in on a photograph. I gave up trying to understand the
division algorithms they had in their heads within seconds! The
students looked longingly at the calculators on their desks. No way!
I thought. What these students need is ME teaching them THE BASICS!
We started with The Place Value System for the natural numbers and
were soon cruising through the rules of positive numbers, moving on
to integers and the rules of integer arithmetic. Order of operations
came next. Week One gone, five classes, 8 algorithms already –
lovely! I thought to myself. If I carry on like this everything is
going to be great.
And so it went on: fractions, lowest common multiple, prime
factorization, mixed numbers, ratio and proportion; the algorithms
were piling up: 12 algorithms; 18 algorithms; 25 algorithms. Then I
went onto percentages. I was really enjoying myself. I tested the
students on the algorithms after each week or two and everything was
fine. They learned their algorithms for the tests and performed them
quite well on the whole. I was pleased. This is ‘real’ mathematics
teaching I thought.
At the end of the course the students had 45 algorithms to learn and
the final exam would test about 10 of them. No problem! “Just learn
all the algorithms and do these 120 problems and you’ll be ok.”, I
told them.
I was so happy with these students that I asked my supervisor if I
could take them again for the next level course - Algebra. “No
problem”, she said.
Next semester we started off with some simple collection of ‘like
terms’, followed by examples with parentheses. But negative numbers
and minus signs were a problem here. So we had to review the rules
of integer arithmetic. Multiplication and division were a little bit
difficult for some. They haven’t learn their algorithms properly, I
thought.
So … we started again with some simple arithmetic. Whole number
addition seemed ok for them; only one or two had difficulty. Whole
number subtraction caused more problems; some of their algorithms
for performing the operation seemed almost haphazard, subtracting
from top or bottom depending on which was the larger digit, with
tiny marks scribbled in the most unlikely places. Multiplication was
not too bad except for the occasional zero appearing on the end of
one row of digits or another, like an uninvited guest at a wedding
trying to get in on a photograph. I gave up trying to understand the
division algorithms they had in their heads within seconds! The
students looked longingly at the calculators on their desks. . . .
And that’s when the nightmare began!
Essay 4:
A Dream about my Dream House
Her hair still a mess,
but her teeth brushed, Claire closed the door to the guest bedroom
in which she had slept and skipped down the stairs and entered the
kitchen. “Good morning, Anne,” she said as she saw her host sitting
at the table drinking a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper.
“Good morning, Claire. How did you sleep?”
Claire didn’t really know how to answer; she hadn’t actually slept
much and yet felt incredibly well rested. She had had the most
amazing dream of her life, which had occupied her mind the entire
night. Perhaps more amazing than the dream itself was the fact that
she could remember it in its entirety. And in vivid detail.
“I had the most amazing dream last night. It was so powerful, so
real.”
Anne looked up from the paper. Claire was now the third guest they’d
had stay over to mention having had a dream of note while sleeping
at her house. Maybe just coincidence, but maybe not.
“Do you want to tell me about it? It’s okay if you don’t want to – I
know dreams are kind of personal. Maybe you don’t even remember it…
that usually happens with really good dreams.”
“No, not this one. That’s the amazing part. Or at least one of the
amazing parts. I remember everything.”
“That’s unusual, isn’t it?”
“That’s what they say. I know it’s unusual for me – I can almost
never remember my dreams. They just sort of unravel when I try to
recall them.”
“Yeah, exactly. That’s what happens to me, too.”
“Well let me tell you… this was a great dream to remember the
details of…”
“Do tell.”
“Well, David and I were on a tropical island somewhere. For a while
in the dream, we were just lying out by the pool, drinking
daiquiris. At one point, we both hopped in the pool to cool off. We
drifted over underneath this great waterfall and started getting
frisky. Ten minutes later we were in the room going at it like
rabbits. Like when we were in college. I swear I dreamt we were
having sex the entire night.”
Anne, a bit shocked by her long-time friend, found herself feeling
jealous. She and Tom hadn’t been physically close much lately. She
listened quietly as Claire gave a semi-polite summary of her erotic
dream.
“Well, I should go upstairs and take a shower and get ready to
leave. My plane leaves in two hours.”
“I’m so glad you arranged your layover so you could spend the night.
I miss seeing you and Dave.”
“Me too.”
The women hugged and Claire hurried upstairs to get ready. Thirty
minutes later, the women were hugging again. Then Claire waved out
of the window of her rental car and was gone.
Anne went back to the kitchen table, topped off her coffee and tried
to go back to reading the paper. But she couldn’t. She was too
distracted by Claire’s dream.
~~~~~
A few months later, Anne’s nephew slept over in the guest room. Her
nephew, John, was her sister’s 13-year old son. John was already
five foot eight inches tall and it didn’t look as if he was going to
stop growing any time soon. Her brother-in-law, John’s father, was
six four. He’d come by to drop John off after dinner on a Friday
night.
“Thanks, Anne. We really appreciate you letting John stay with you.
Debbie Murphy, the mother of one of John’s teammates will pick John
up in the morning. She’ll be at your place by 6:00 a.m. John’s game
is at 7.”
“No problem at all. Nice to see you.”
“You too. See you soon.”
Anne turned towards John and motioned towards the door.
“Thanks Auntie Anne.”
“You’re welcome, John. You’re always welcome here. Who are you
playing tomorrow?”
“Andover. They’re undefeated so far this season. They won the league
championship last year.”
“Well, get some rest tonight so you’re ready for the big game.”
“That’s the plan.”
~~~~~
Debbie Murphy picked up John at 6:00 a.m. the following morning.
Anne was still sleeping when Debbie’s van pulled out of the
driveway. John had left a short “Thank You” note on the kitchen
counter.
Anne showered, dressed and headed out for a day of leisurely
shopping. After a light lunch – a great Niçoise salad and an iced
tea – she returned home. As she threw her keys on the kitchen
counter near the phone, Anne noticed that she had a message on her
machine. She pressed the big round button on the machine and grabbed
a Diet Coke out of the refrigerator while she waited for the message
to play. It was a message from John, her nephew. He was going on and
on excitedly about how well he’d played (he’d scored two goals), how
his team had won the game and how he completely credited the intense
visualization he’d had in his dream last night.
~~~~~
When Christmas came a few months later, Anne and Tom had three
couples over for Christmas dinner. Anne stayed with the classics –
turkey and ham – while Tom made a delicious corn casserole and
homemade pumpkin pie. During the course of their two-hour feast, the
eight friends consumed six full bottles of wine. Not surprisingly,
at the end of the night, the visitors were in no position to drive
home and needed to crash. Anne and Tom, having a large country home,
easily accommodated their friends. After making their visitors
comfortable in their guest rooms, Anne and Tom headed off to bed.
Anne’s husband, Tom, was VP of Sales at a local high tech company.
He was constantly traveling as evidenced by his 10k membership,
which meant he’d flown over a million miles in the past year. He had
just come back from Boston the previous night, and although tired
from his trip, he was invigorated by the dinner party and by how
beautiful Anne looked. They made love for the first time in weeks.
As they did every Christmas morning since they’d been married ten
years earlier, Anne and Tom woke up early, made coffee and nestled
on the couch reading the paper while listening to Christmas music.
In an hour or so, they’d take their long walk in the nearby hills,
then rent a bunch of sappy Christmas movies like “It’s a Wonderful
Life” and “Die Hard 2” (Tom swore that it qualified as a Christmas
movie) and watch them all day long.
Tami and Chris came downstairs around 8:00. Both looked somehow
different. The way people look when they’ve made a big life decision
and are feeling confident about it.
“Hi guys. How’d you sleep?”
“Great, thanks,” Tami answered.
“Thanks for letting us stay over,” Chris added. “I guess we both had
a little to much to drink.”
“No worries, guys. That’s what friends are for.”
“Well, speaking of being friends, we wanted to share our decision
with you…”
Anne and Tom glanced at each other and then turned back at Tami, who
continued.
“We’ve decided to sell our house and travel the world for a year.
We’re going to start a family afterwards, but both really want to
see the world before we settle down with kids.”
Remembering her friend Claire, her nephew John, and several other
guests that had spoken of having powerful dreams while staying at
their house, Anne asked whether they’d been planning the idea for a
long time or not. If her suspicions were right – and she was
confident they were – she thought she knew the answer.
Tami answered first. “No. In fact, we’ve never really talked about
it. I mean, except for always saying we want to travel. We just made
up our minds this morning.”
Chris added, “Yeah… it was the strangest thing. We both had
essentially the same dream last night. It was weird, I’m telling
you.”
“But it made us both realize how much we want to travel. First
Europe, then Asia. Maybe Australia and New Zealand.”
“And lots of time here in the States. Maine, Boston, the South,
Alaska.”
“Yeah, Alaska. It’s going to be great.”
Just then, Barbara and John came downstairs, followed almost
immediately by Katherine and Kurt. Both couples entered the living
room just as Tami and Chris were excitedly sharing their newly
formed plans.
“What’s all the excitement?”
Anne answered, “Tami and Chris are going to travel the world, the
lucky ducks.”
“Really? How exciting.”
“Yeah. We’re pretty excited,” Chris replied. “Mostly we just want to
see the world before starting a family.”
Barbara started to speak. “Speaking of family –”
Anne suspected that the mystery of her dream house had been working
overtime the previous night. Sure enough, Barbara continued.
“John and I have decided to have kids. Lots of them. I had this
amazing dream. It just felt so… right. In my dream, our house was
full of children. Six, seven, eight of them. Maybe more. There were
boys and girls and toys and bikes and dolls and a messy house full
of love and joy and laughter. When I woke up, I told John about my
dream.”
“And I told her I’d had exactly the same dream. We both always
wanted kids so much, but we’d never really talked about it much.
And, sorry for coming down so late this morning but, er, well, I
suspect Barbara will be giving birth to our first in about nine
months.
“I wondered what all that noise was this morning,” joked Kurt.
Barbara blushed, but joked back, “At least we’ll be saving money on
the condoms we won’t be needing.”
Next to chime in was Katherine. She and Kurt had their news to share
as well.
“Well, well. It looks like we all have our announcements. Kurt and I
have some news as well. We’re getting divorced.”
“What?” This was the shocked response from their six friends in the
room.
“Are you sure?”
“You should get counseling. Talk things over.”
“Come on guys,” someone pleaded.
“Hush all of you. I know you all mean well, but Kurt and I realized
last night that we’re just not compatible. We love each other and
always will. But, we’re not meant to be together. I know this must
be hard for all of you to accept, but trust us, we’re sure. It may
sound strange, but we’re both happy and at peace with our decision.”
“Wow,” was about all anyone could say.
~~~~~
Anne’s and Tom’s guests left an hour or so later. Once they were
gone, Anne and Tom settled in to watch their movies. After watching
three movies, Anne and Tom had a late, romantic candlelit dinner of
leftovers. During dinner, Anne began describing her suspicion – that
somehow their guest rooms, their house – was responsible for the
powerful dreams that their visitors had been having. Tom thought she
was crazy at first, but the more examples Anne gave, the more he had
to admit to himself that she might be on to something, however
strange. He reluctantly agreed to her request that they sleep in one
of their guest rooms that night.
Once the table was cleared and the dishes were in the dishwasher,
the two headed upstairs for bed. After brushing their teeth, washing
their faces and changing into their nightclothes, the two walked
down the hallway to the guest room across the hall. With a twinge of
excitement, they crossed the doorway into the room. Moments later,
they were under the covers and ready for bed.
The following morning, Anne and Tom set out on their new life course
and one month later, the town’s newest – and soon to be the most
popular – bed and breakfast was opened.
