A Dream within a Dream
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?
A Dream within a Dream’ is purely a melancholic poem. It’s about the hope,
hopelessness, and helplessness of man in general. As the poet agonizingly
contends that humans have to make compromises.
The first half deals with Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of his beloved. Crestfallen with
pain and bleeding profusely, he deems the time spent with his fiancée a la
fairytale. The gloomy mood reflects the poet’s real-life affairs as his fiancée is
taken away from her, leaving him to pick up the pieces.
Struggling with time, loss, and helplessness, the poet comes to terms with
reality knocking on his door. For him, he feels he has been betrayed by time,
watching indifferently as he recovers from one loss to another.
As the poet embarks on his emotional tirade, he expresses his undying love
for his wife. Her loss has torn him apart, as he attempts to cope with the pain.
He still wonders if all of his experiences were in actuality real or a figment of
his subconscious.
In the second stanza, the poet stands on sea-shore, grasping sand. The
“roaring waves” are analogous to his continuous pain and “golden sand” refers
to his wife which regardless of how tightly he clasps, seems to weasel out
from his grip. He lets out a sigh of desperation, seeking God’s help in his hour
of misery. He speculates whether all of his life was just a dream after all.
The poem consists of 24-verses, divided into 2-stanzas one of 11 lines and
one consisting of 13. In totality, it has 9 couplets and 2 triplets. The initial
stanza commences with a triplet, followed by couplets.
Meter
On the whole, the poem’s meter alters considerably. It is a juxtaposition of
iambic tetrameter and anapests strewn into one poem. As a result, it gives the
poem a dreamy/ hazy effect. Things take a drastic turn as is the case with
dreams.
The poetic form is slightly erratic. Each verse in this poem consists of three
feet. An iamb is a dominant foot as a result. One such verse where it is used
is as follows:How few!/ Yet how/ they creep
On a similar footing, other verses are constructed in this mannerism. Edgar
Allan Poe was in a rather anapestic mood, as numerous instances are found
in this poem
Poetic Devices
Edgar Allan Poe uses several literary devices that make the speaker’s
thoughts more appealing and heart-touching. To begin with, there is a
rhetorical exclamation at the very first line. In the following lines, readers can
find the use of enjambment. This device helps the writer to internally connect
the lines. For example, the lines, “You are not wrong, who deem/ That my
days have been a dream.”
The following line contains a metaphor. Here, the poet compares dreams to
the bygone days. Just after this line, readers can find the use of
personification. The poet invests “hope” with the idea of flying, comparing it to
a bird or any other winged creature.
The seventh and eighth lines of this stanza begin in the same pattern. This
device is called anaphora. There is another device, a rhetorical question, in
the next line. The last line of this section contains a palilogy.
Poe uses metaphor and personification in the second stanza too. He
metaphorically compares the “sand” to “time” and “deep” to “ocean”. Besides,
there are repetitions of sounds in the first few lines. For example, the line, “Of
a surf-tormented shore” contains a repetition of the “s” sound. It is called
alliteration.
Likewise, some more literary devices make this section more impassioned
than the previous one. The rhetorically charged lines depict how the speaker
feels after being aware of the fact that all that he sees is nothing but “a dream
within a dream.”
Themes
This poem is far different from all the poems of its time; Poe explores the
themes of life and dream in a very different way. He takes the readers to the
land of dreams, to the land of fantasies, and the land of hopes. No matter how
sad people are in their lives, they know that there is only one place where they
can keep their hopes high – dreamland.
Let’s have a look at the important themes used in this piece.
● Dream. This poem revolves around the strong theme of dreaming
within a dream, which is quite a hypothetical concept. It makes the
reader distinguish between reality as well as fantasy. Reality is
what one lives in; a dream is something that he dwells in.
When one dreams, there is no stress in his or her mind. Even if it
is a bad dream or a nightmare, we know that the period is going to
end, and it surely does. If someone is depressed in his life, he
must know that even that specific period is going to come to an
end, someday. There is absolutely nothing that stays forever in
life. All we have to do is just “wait” for the right time of happiness
to come to us.
● Death. In ‘A Dream Within A Dream’, one of the important themes
is death. It is metaphorically described as the waves crashing
against the sands of the shore. Just like a wave has ups and
downs, so does the life of an individual; the wave is nothing but
time, which is ‘pitiless’ or harsh; time keeps running at its pace,
without waiting for anyone. No matter which phase of our lives we
want to hold on to it, whether it is good or bad, we just can’t do so,
since it is not even in the hands of God to stop or pause time.
● Astral Traveling. Deep down inside, the poem may also present
the theme of astral projection or astral traveling, wherein the
dreamer has out-of-body experiences. The dreamer floats near the
shore and tries to gather all the wisdom he wishes to, in the face
of sands.
Symbolism
Poe’s poem, ‘A Dream Within a Dream’ contains some important symbols.
Firstly, the word, “kiss” is a symbol of love and affection. It’s a kind of parting
gift that the speaker is giving to his beloved. The most important symbol of
this piece is “dream”. The poet uses the word in its literal sense as well as in a
symbolic manner. According to the speaker, his life seems to be a dream that
is a part of another dream. So, what he thinks of life or how he wishes to lead
life is nothing but a vision, his mind’s creation.
This word also seems a symbol of love or the lady whom he loved. So, the
“dream” is a symbolic reference to his life. It is also giving a hint to the nature
of his relationship. Like a dream, their relationship was momentary and ended
abruptly. As it was a vision worth living in again, he feels lonely after waking
up in reality.
The second stanza contains some important symbols too. For instance, the
“shore” is a symbol for the speaker himself. While the waves are compared to
the love of the lady. No matter how refreshing it seemed at first hand, at the
end of the day, the waves were responsible for the shore’s distress. The
“sand” is another symbol used here. It represents the time that can not be
held or stored.
Tone
Throughout this piece, the tone of the speaker who is a victim of unrequited
love is depressing, low, emphatic, monotonic, and pessimistic. It paints a
gloomy picture depicting a speaker standing alone on a shore and watching
how the sun of his life is setting down gradually.
In the first stanza, the tone is direct, elusive, and pensive. The first few lines
begin in a manner that seems the speaker is imagining how the relationship
ended. The last two lines are emotive enough to raise the question, “Is life a
dream within a dream?” The poet modulates the tone in this manner for
making each line more thought-provoking to the readers.
The tone of the second stanza does not differ from the first one. There is only
one difference and it can be seen in the line, “While I weep — while I weep!”
From this line, it becomes clear to readers that the poetic person is completely
heartbroken now. That’s why he alludes to the last resort, God for his
inabilities. The ending of this section has a difference too. Previously, his
voice was sad and his tone was cold. But, here he is asking a question
helplessly. This helplessness can be felt in his tone.