Poetry Analysis

Siti Aminah/18033963
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?
1.Summary of poetry:

Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Dream Within a Dream,” published in 1849, explores the
difference between our perceptions of life and the effects of time. Within the poem, he
illustrates a human life slipping away, trickling like “sand,” and implies that our existence is
insubstantial, just an abstraction of the mind.

“A Dream within a Dream” Representation of Life: The poet states that his life is
merely a dream within a dream. Although sad, he knows that nothing in life is tangible or
permanent. Everything he possesses has to come to an end. It also means, like dreams, life
goes on with lightning speed, and no one can grasp anything. In the first stanza, the poet
presents love and deep feelings when parting from his potential lover. After bidding goodbye
to his love, he thinks that their union is nothing but a dream. However, in the second stanza,
the metaphor of sand highlights that there is no tight grip on reality and time. It just passes no
matter if a person accepts the reality or not. The expression of sorrow runs throughout the
poem. However, what enchants the reader is the universal appeal of the poem regarding
dream and dream-like situations.

2.Diction of Poetry

The diction in A Dream within a Dream emphasizes the feeling of the poetry. The
words"tormented" and "pitiless"

Helps convey that the narrator is feeling helpless and despaired. The feeling is also
showed in line 18, "While I weep, while I weep!" These terms are abstract. A Dream within
a Dream is written with a combination of abstract and concrete terms. The concrete terms
include "sand" in line 15 and "fingers" in line 17. Most of the language is abstract.

3.Theme,the ideas the poetry express/what seems to be important to the poet?

Major Themes in “A Dream within a Dream”: Frustration, the existence of life and
sorrow over the transient life are some of the major themes in the poetry. These themes are
evident in both stanzas. The first stanza shows sadness because the speaker is bidding
goodbye to his beloved. However, her departure makes him question his existence.
Traumatized by this event, he mourns the temporary nature of life that has brought despair
and sorrow. In the second stanza, he is still sad, holding grains of sand. No matter how hard
he tries to hold, the sand grains slip away. Ironically, he compares human life to this falling
of the grains of sand. He questions God to lead him to the reality of life, as for him, it is
nothing but a dream within a dream.

4.Imagery of poetry

The use of imagery makes the reader to visualize the writer’s feelings and emotions.
Poet has used images appealing to the sense of sight such as “kiss upon the brow”, “grains of
golden sand” and “pitiless waves.” These images help the readers to feel the same pain felt by
the poet.

5.Figurative Language of Poetry

Personification: Personification is to attribute human characteristics to non-human

things or objects. The poet has personified hope in the sixth line where he says, “hope has
flown away.” Here he gives a human quality to hope and the ability to fly.

Metaphor: The whole poem is an extended metaphor as the speaker says that life is a
dream. He explains how dream enters our mind using a metaphor in line sixteen where it is
stated as, “yet, how they creep” comparing the sand to a creeping object.

6.Tone of Poetry

The tone of this poetry is distressed. One example of this is the stanza, "While I weep-
while I weep! O God!" Poe's distress is evident when he begins to realize that his life will be
like a dream when he dies, and no one will really remember how he lived or what he lived
for. The "grains of sand creeping through his fingers" symbolizes his time on Earth slipping
away. When he cries out to God, he is helpless, his yearning for understanding of his life is
shown. In this poem, Hope is considered like an object instead of an idea. When his "friend"
Hope leaves him, he is lost.