A Dream Within A Dream
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
By: Edgar Allan Poe
Thesis:
Poe uses imagery, symbolism, metaphors, personification and an allusion to himself, to question whether what is perceived and experienced is actually real.
Questions:
1. In the first stanza who is being spoken to?
2. Why does Poe make an allusion to himself?
3. How would you describe “A Dream Within A Dream” (Not the poem, literally).
4. What images, if any come to mind when reading this poem?
5. What do you think “grains of golden sand” symbolize?
6. After reading this poem what do you think Poe is trying to say about life?
Great reading! You used a lot of expression in your voice!
ReplyDeleteeverything that happens in life is a bleak nightmare only you never wake up to realize its not real, it is real. The only solution is eternal darkness.
ReplyDeletePrecious.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Keenan!<:-) , I thought the meaning of the poem was that once you become old and realize what things you missed when you were young, you tend to want to go back and try these things like going on roller coasters, which now you cannot do due to health issues when you are old . So live your life to its fullest and do the things you wanted to do before you pass away.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting what Raymond mentioned in the class discussion for this poem - about how Poe may have referred to life being a "dream within a dream", and that perhaps everything we think and feel is all part of a dream and what we think is reality may not even be that. I feel like maybe in the beginning of the poem, if it is in fact about losing loved ones, that Poe contemplates the meaning of life in the second stanza because he felt that loss. When the grains of sand fall through his fingers, he asks why he can't save them, similarly to thinking, why can't he save his loved ones? It's very difficult to determine exactly what the poet wants to get across as the meaning, but I think the different conclusions made in class were quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteGood job Keenan!