Polaris Summary

The story begins with the narrator who talks about how he lives in house alone that is between both a graveyard and a swamp where the light of the Pole Star (Polaris) peers in through his bed room every night. The narrator then comes upon a city in his dreams known as Olathoë, in a land called Lomar and describes his interactions with the inhabitants that communicated through an unknown language that he could somehow understand.

The narrator continues to revisit the city and winds up believing that everything that happens is real, along with the treat of it being attacked by ape like creatures called Gnophkehs. He is then placed in a watch tower by the leader of Olathoë’s military to keep watch and to send a signal to the men in case they receive a surprise attack. At the post the narrator begins to feel tired and looks up at the Pole Star which begins to whisper to him “evil counsels”. This puts the narrator to sleep in the dream world and wakes up in the real world, convinced that the Pole Star trapped him in what he believes to be a hellish dream world.