We begin a study of the life and work of St John Henry Newman with what was perhaps his major poetical achievement, The Dream of Gerontius, a lengthy poem concerning the passing from this world into thenext. It is called a "Dream" but it is in fact an imaginative, almost prophetic glimpse of eternity. We then meditate upon its theme. (N.B. The Apologia was published in 1864 and the Dream in 1865)