Dream Galaxy

Diary & poem of record · Death & the departed

She dreamt of her uncle and foretold her death

London, England · January 1664 (as told to Pepys)

how she dreamt of her uncle Scobell, and did foretell, from some discourse she had with him, that she should die four days thence, and not sooner, and did all along say so, and did so.

Original text — The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys

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Source
The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Samuel Pepys, 1660–1669. January 1663/64
Rights
Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type
Diary & poem of record
Place
London, England · British
Date
January 1664 (as told to Pepys)
Uncertainty
High — Second-hand: Pepys records a story about a friend’s wife on her deathbed.
Imagery
A stranger · The dead · Time
Feelings
Calm · Unease

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Dreams of the dead returning are widely reported after bereavement. Ellis noted how such dreams often move, over years, from disbelief to quiet acceptance; many people describe them as comforting rather than frightening.

Ellis (1911), ch. VIII

Mythological

In Homer, dreams pass through gates of horn and ivory; across many cultures the dead were believed to visit the living in sleep, and dreams were a place where the two could meet.

Odyssey XIX

Chinese traditions

Chinese poets wrote dreams of the departed as acts of remembrance: Su Shi’s “Ten years, living and dead” and Du Fu’s “My old friend entered my dream” are read to this day as elegies.

Su Shi (1075); Du Fu (759)

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images