A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe
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? 

Comment:




In class, we know Poe's writing style has two features one is a morbidity and darkness. His miserable childhood affects his life directly. His parents were died when he was three, and later on he was adapted by the wealthy tobacco merchant, John Allan. However, Mr. Allan anticipated Poe to become a businessman rather than a poet. Poe still desperately wanted to be a writer. Even though Poe has already had enough poetry to publish a book, Mr. Allan did not allow him to do so. When Poe went to college, he did not have enough money. He even burned furnitures to keep warm.


The poem is 24 lines, divided into two stanzas. The title of the poem, "A Dream within a Dream," tells the readers how Poe views his life or the important events. Are they reality or fantasy, or every both reality and fantasy. In general, people know dreams are not real. When people have a nightmare, they wake up and comfort themselves by saying, "Don't worry, it is not real." "A Dream with a Dream" creates an atmosphere which the reality and fantasy are blend together. The world should be real when people wake from a dream. However, when people wake a dream which within another dream, they may think they are in the reality but it is not. They are just from another unreal world into the other unreal world. For Poe, sad and miserable events and  experiences in his life like dreams but he seemed never be able to jump out of the dreams. A dream within a dream is a non stop and inescapable circle. Even though dreams are unreal, they become real when people cannot distinguish what reality and fantasy are and live in the dreams never wake up.

The first stanza is told by the first-person point of view. Apart for a lover and lose any hope are the vital elements in the first stanza. The line "Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now," may reflect the death of Virginia Clemm. The marriage between Poe and Virginia was the few lovely and sweet moments in Poe's life. Her illness affected Poe revert to alcoholism, and the death of Virginia even caused Poe could not write for months.

Compared to the first stanza, the second stanza is more external. The scene takes place at the shore. The short lines like "How few!", "O God!" and "O God!" show the the helpless emotion Poe has. The golden sand may refer to the few happy moments he had, but he could not hold the moments forever. They were all gone.

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!

Because Poe is considered a prominent author in the Romantic Movement. He cooperates natural elements into his writing. Sea and shore are the important elements he uses in the poem.