Tennyson’s The Day-Dream – Sketch of the King and Courtiers awakening the Revival 1855 - 1856

This pencil sketch by Sir John Everett Millais illustrates a scene from Tennyson's poem "The Day-Dream," capturing the moment when a kingdom awakens from a century-long slumber. Note the figure of the king, identifiable by his crown, surrounded by courtiers emerging from their enchanted sleep. Sleep, a motif deeply embedded in our cultural psyche, often symbolizes a pause in the conscious world, a descent into the subconscious. Consider how, in ancient Greek mythology, Hypnos was the god of sleep, and his brother Thanatos, the god of death. Sleep is thus mirrored by death. This mirroring surfaces repeatedly in art and literature. The faces of the courtiers, rendered with simple lines, evoke a sense of collective memory stirring, their expressions caught between the world of dreams and the awakening of reality. Millais conveys a delicate emotional tension through the composition. In their awakening, they are pulled from a dream state which has held them captive, but in which they have found safety and rest.