The Dream of Gerontius (poem)

The poem, written after Newman's conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism,[1] explores his new Catholic-held beliefs of the journey from death through Purgatory, thence to Paradise, and to God.

His depiction of the overwhelmed Gerontius in Phase Seven of the poem, who begs to be taken for purgatorial cleansing rather than diminish the perfection of God and his courts of Saints and Angels by his continued presence, has become a popular expression of humanity's desire for healing through redemptive suffering.

[3] He wrote it up in fair copy from fifty-two scraps of paper between 17 January and 7 February 1865, and published it in May and June of the same year, in two parts in the Jesuit periodical The Month.

First Phase Gerontius is a dying man, who on his death bed in his final moments prays to Jesus and Mary for protection and receives the last sacraments.

Third Phase The Angel states that Gerontius has barely left the physical realm behind, and goes on to explain that time and other such things are merely constructs made by humans, and no longer apply in the afterlife.

The Angel tells the soul that its sense of joy is a recompense proceeding from God to keep it in faith and hope while it passes through the coming demonic temptations.

The soul of Gerontius asks the Angel why all of his senses still work except sight, "All has been darkness since I left the earth; Shall I remain thus sight-bereft all through my penance-time?"

The Angel explains that his soul now exists in a world where he does not need senses but on the day of resurrection he will regain "all thou hast lost, new made and glorified".

The mere sight of God will fill him with love but also sicken him since, in spite of the wondrous grace the Lord showed in consenting to be crucified, Gerontius was a sinful being.

Far removed from the earlier grandeur of the rhapsodic angelic hosts, Gerontius now finds only a dread and august silence which surrounds the throne of God.

The majesty of the Spirits that surround God however are too much for Gerontius to bear and sick with the love of his Crucified Lord and guilt for his earthly follies he painfully realises that, as yet, he is not ready to receive the beatific vision.

The Dream of Gerontius was an immediate success upon its release, owing in part to the Victorian era's rising interest in such subjects as death, suicide, and the after-life.

Because The Dream of Gerontius deals with the journey of the soul from life to death to Heaven, something not many authors and poets had done up to that point, many people wondered what inspirations Newman was drawing from when he wrote it.

Besides these various groups there were also some who viewed "Newman himself as carrying greater religious authority and credibility than any available creed or communion",[7] and that the "Dream of Gerontius" was a vision of sage wisdom by a Cardinal in the Catholic Church.