| Summary: | The thesis is in two parts. After outlining the dream classifications from Macrobius onwards, the first part explores how the employment of ‘drem’ overarches transitional states of consciousness, including visions and ecstatic revelations. It then investigates the stages towards contemplation, and foregrounds crucial symbolic images signalling the ascent to ecstatic contemplative states, as it witnessed by Middle English mystics. The second part focuses on Chaucer’s works and emphasises the presence both of the oneiric mystical ascending ladder-like structure, and of fundamental mystical symbols appearing at crucial stages within the literary works. It concentrates on Chaucer’s dream visions; subsequently it investigates how Troilus’s plight parallels the mystics’ progress towards contemplation, and finally suggests how Chaucer’s oneiric poetic, germinating with the dream visions, blossoms in his later works.
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