A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
Analysis
"A Dream Within A Dream" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was written during the year of Poe's death. It asks the quesiton if life is real or simply a dream. It dramatizes his life at the time as he watched his life slip away. The "golden sand" referenced in the poem is because of the discovery of gold in California.
This is one of Poe's most famous works. Unlike his other great works, it is short and concise. It is made up of only two stanzas with one having eleven lines and the other thirteen. The rhyme schemes are back-to-back and sometimes back-to-back-to-back (three in row).
Poem
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? Written in 1849.
Next: A Valentine
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Find out more information about this poem and read others like it.
Nationality
American
Literary Movement
Romanticism, 19th Century
Subjects
Life, Dream
Find out more information about this poem and read others like it.
Nationality
American
Literary Movement
Romanticism, 19th Century
Subjects
Life, Dream