A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
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?
Analysis
The poem is about the authors struggle with the difference between real life and imagination that someone is pointing out to him, also the important things in life slipping away slowly from the author. The Poem is addressing psychological event in the authors head. The speaker of the poem is author and he is talking to himself or younger version of himself, he is talking to himself under the circumstance of reminiscing of the important things in life that he missed out on. Most of the diction is familiar, a lot of the words are have connotations and a deeper meaning behind them. A couple words are abstract but most of them are concrete. For example some of the words that have a greater meaning are “Golden Sand” because it shows something that can slip through his fingers like the important things in life and also the “pitiless wave” is the barrier between real and imagination. There are no clichés in the poem. The diction contributes to the poem because it has double meanings which add to the intensity of feelings in the poem. The poem is contemplative and serious, it is quite a deep topic, “weep” shows he is sad and “pitiless” shows no one feels bad for him. The tone changes from being light and almost happy in the first stanza and becomes sad and serious in the second stanza. The poem is 24 lines split into 2 stanzas with an average of 5-6 words a line. There is end rhyme, rhythm, and some repetition to emphasize words, there is also allusion to a biblical god where the author is asking for help. The poem is closed because it follows a rhyme scheme using end rhyme and also follows a rhythm.
The music, First – Cold war kids (piano cover), was chosen because it emphasizes the rhythm of the poem using the rhythm from the song, the song is not specifically a happy or sad tune which contributes to the poem because I could be interpreted as happy or sad.
Pictures
- For “Take this kiss upon the brow!” we chose a painting of a man kissing a woman because the line is a direct definition of the photo. It seemed to suit the poem because the man is flying in from the clouds like an angel or in an imagination.
- For “And, in parting from you now,” we used a picture of a soul leaving a body, It suits the poem because it fits with the imagination theme.
- For “Thus much let me avow” we used a picture of someone praying or confessing because avow means to confess openly. It fits into the poems theme because the author is confessing his life has been mostly a dream.
- For “You are not wrong, who deem —– That my days have been a dream;” We used a photo of a stairway leading into the clouds or going to the heavens, It fits the poem because it shows the imagination theme of the poem.
- For “Yet if hope has flown away” we chose a picture of a man’s kite flying away from him because the kite represents hope, it is sad and the line from the poem says that hope is flying away.
- For “In a night, or in a day, —– In a vision, or in none,” we used a picture that shows the night and day, and in both sides it is an imagination of being on an island in the sky.
- For “Is it therefore the less gone?” we chose a picture of wilting flowers, which is showing the time slipping away from him because he is missing the important things in life because he is living in a dream.
- For both of the “All that we see or seem —— Is but a dream within a dream” The picture we used fits the poem because it is a dream where the girl means the world to the artist of the picture and she is also the universe.
- For “I stand amid the roar —– Of a surf-tormented shore,” We used a picture of a lone man on a shore with large waves because it shows the direct meaning of the line.
- For “And I hold within my hand —– Grains of the golden sand” The “golden sand” represents the time he has left to live and the important things in life.
- For “How few! yet how they creep —– Through my fingers to the deep” He is saying how little time he has left and how few important events are left, and how it is slipping away from him, we chose the picture of dust slipping through a hand to represent the time that is slipping away from the author.
- For “While I weep — while I weep!” we used an eye crying because weeping is the same as crying, the author is depressed that his time is slipping away.
- For “O God! Can I not grasp —– Them with a tighter clasp?” It is a picture of hands in the holding “time” with a light grasp which it could slip away quite easily.
- For “O God! can I not save —– One from the pitiless wave?” It is a picture of a stone head in the ocean of strong waves, the head is being tormented by the waves and the waves have no pity.
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