Poul Ruders

Dreamland

Soprano, Clarinet and String Quartet

When looking for an interpretation on the internet of Edgar Allan Poe's DREAMLAND, it turns out that there are as many interpretations as there are interpreters. Some believe it is the mad hallucinations of a drug addict (could be Poe himself), others see it as Poe's equivalent of Dante's INFERNO - a tale from the Underworld. One thing is certain, though. DREAMLAND is a 'fantasy', the vision of a dreamvoyager arriving at and staying in a mythical location beyond and between space and time, a place of strange majesty and surreal spectacles, such as: 'Mountains toppling evermore into seas without a shore'. At the same time it is a 'peaceful, soothing region' - a mystical 'wonderland' not unlike the fabled Eldorado, which is mentioned in the poem. Poe biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn called it 'one of Poe's finest creations', with each phrase contributing to one effect: a human traveler wandering between life and death. DREAMLAND first appeared in print in America in the June 1844 issue of Graham's Magazine, and was subsequently published in a June 1845 edition of The Broadway Journal. Poul Ruders, July 2010