A Dream Within A Dream

A Dream Within A Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

 

Edgars Allan Poe’s, “A Dream Within A Dream”; is a poem about how Poem dreamt of going to a good university and get properly educated but failed to do so half way in this university years because he was unable to afford to pay the debts that were piling upon him. “A Dream Within A Dream” is how Poe looked at his dreams when he was a child dreaming about the future.

This poem is about how Poe dreamt of his future and how he was not able to ‘grasp’ it in time before his tragic death.

(Line 19-24)

“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?”

The rhyme scheme in this poem is aaabbccddeeffgghhhiijjkk. (Line12) “I stand amid the roar” and (Line 22) “One from the pitiless wave?” These two lines are two examples of figurative language; you can’t stand beside a roar, that’s a sound. A wave cannot be pitiless, it’s not alive to feel any pity.

(Line 13-15) “Of a surf-tormented shore,/ And I hold within my hand/ Grains of the golden sand-“ These 3 lines are symbolic because they describe his dreams and hopes; the shore symbolizes his mind, and the sand symbolizes his dreams and hopes. (Line 15) “Grains of the golden sand-“ Poe implied the use of imagery in this line.

Poe uses a very gloomy tone in this poem, since his poem is based on how hopeless he was achieving his dreams. (Line5-6) “That my days have been a dream;/ Yet if hope has flown away” (Line 19-22) “O God! can I not grasp/Them with a tighter clasp?/O God! can I not save/One from the pitiless wave?” (Line 5) “That my days have been a dream;” These are all examples of how Edgar Allan Poe incorporated a depressing tone of voice throughout the poem.

The break between line 11 and 12 represents the break between reality and his dream; lines 1-11 are about reality, while lines 12-14 are describing his dreams and how he could not grasp them. (Line 18) “While I weep- while I weep” this line shows the emotions Poe felt when was not able to grasp his dreams. (Line 19) “O God! Can I not grasp” the shift in voice changes to a more urgent call.                                                                                             

The title, “A Dream Within A Dream”; is about how Poe could not grasp his dreams that he wanted to attain but he could not because of the lack of money from his parents and how he was under debt trying to pursue his dreams of being a professional writer.