"A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe



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?




** Remember to write down words you don't know in your journal and find out the definition!



SOME DEFINITIONS:


deem: consider/think of in a certain way.

amid: surrounded by; in the middle of.

surf-tormented: the shore is being pounded/harassed by the ocean waves.

pitiless: to show no pity.

1. Syllable Count

What is a syllable count?

In poetry, there are numerous different kinds of structures that can be used to help tell the story of the poem.

Frost's "Fire and Ice" takes on the structure of free verse, with no syllable count.

However, the poem above has a syllable count of 7! This means almost every line only takes up 7 syllables, creating the effect of Lyric Poetry--which just means there's a catchy rhythm!


EXAMPLE:

"In a night, or in a day/

In a vision, or in none/

Is it therefore the less gone?"

2. Repetition

What is repetition?

Repetition is the simple repeating of words or phrases in a short span of space.

In poetry, poets use repetition to either put emphasis on an important word, or to dramatise the situation.


EXAMPLE:

"While I weep — while I weep!"

Questions to think/talk about:

  • What do you think Poe means by 'a dream within a dream'?

  • Which words/phrases are repeated in the poem? Why do you think that is? (HINT: "O God!" is repeated twice. Could this represent the speaker's anguish or enthusiasm?)

  • Em-dashes ( — ) appear a number of times throughout the poem. In poetry, there are many variables that can be manipulated to help convey a message/tell a story. Punctuation is one of them! Why do you think Poe uses em-dashes? What might the em-dash represent in terms of the speaker's feelings?

  • Like punctuation, there are also some words that are italicised in the poem. Why do you think Poe wanted to draw our attention to these certain words?