Dream Galaxy

Literary dream · Cities & buildings

A man clothed with rags

Bedford, England · written c. 1676, pub. 1678

As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and, as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.

Original text — The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source
The Pilgrim's Progress — John Bunyan, 1678. Opening
Rights
Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type
Literary dream
Place
Bedford, England · British
Date
written c. 1676, pub. 1678
Uncertainty
Moderate — An allegory framed as a dream; literary, not a dream report.
Imagery
A stranger · Book · Road · House
Feelings
Grief · Longing

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Houses, corridors and endless stairs are frequent dream settings. Some writers read buildings as figures for the self; others note simply that dreams rebuild the spaces we move through every day.

cf. Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams (1888)

Mythological

Labyrinths, towers and underground cities appear in myths from Crete to Babel — built places where people lose their way, reach too high, or find hidden kingdoms.

Greek myth; Genesis 11

Chinese traditions

Tang tales like “The Governor of Nanke” place a whole kingdom of palaces inside a dream, only to reveal it as an ants’ nest — a lasting image for the brevity of worldly glory.

Li Gongzuo, c. 802

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images