Poem Dream Within A Dream

'A Dream Within a Dream' by Edgar Allan Poe describes how a speaker experiences depths of dispiritedness and despair. As the verse form is dissected for evaluating the mood, motivation, and inherent upheavals his life underwent. Traumatized by those events, the poet embarks on this dreary poetic masterpiece. He may not exist the initiator of this conception, as many philosophers have puzzled over this notion for centuries. According to philosophers, information technology is referred to as "dream statement" and "dream hypothesis".

Co-ordinate to the poet, this globe and all existing life is an illusion of sorts every bit reality doesn't be. This notion was start asserted by Greek philosopher Plato in his treatise, 'Theaetetus' too as Aristotle in his 'Metaphysics'. More then, Rene Descartes besides revitalized this theory in his publication "Meditations on Start Philosophy".

          A Dream within a Dream                    Edgar Allan Poe          Have this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow — You are non wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a solar day, In a vision, or in none, Is information technology 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 agree within my hand Grains of the golden sand — How few! however how they pitter-patter 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! tin I not salve          One          from the pitiless wave? Is          all          that we run across or seem But a dream within a dream?

A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Summary

In 'A Dream within a Dream,' Edgar Allan Poe implies that time is slipping away from the grasp of human beings a la sand on the embankment, indicating that our beingness is at the end inconsequent or a mere abstraction.

In the start stanza, the narrator demands a goodbye kiss on the brow. Although the buss indicates the parting of ways, information technology'due south usually a melancholic catastrophe in the case of Poe. As luck would have it, the narrator seems to be parting means with his meaning other permanently.

While they part their respective means, the narrator affirms that her notion was correct all along; his days with her were but a dream. The narrator realizes the fact after as they part their means. He is in awe as to how time flew which they spent together. It was a la trance land, a dreamy thing that ended abruptly for the narrator.

As a result, he wonders if this time was measurable quality or just a figment of his imagination. It seems that the narrator has come to terms with the hard reality of life and outset to learn the ropes.

As the poem ends, the poet asks only one question to the reader – what if the reader wakes up and realizes that all that he has gone through, the good and the bad, was aught but a dream inside another? If readers have heard of the saying – what if nosotros wake up and realize that we were simply dreaming, all this while – then they surely understand this poem in a much better way. What if we open our optics and realize that nosotros had simply been dreaming, all this while, and the reality begins after nosotros wake upwards?

Meaning

'A Dream inside a Dream' is purely a melancholic verse form. Information technology's about the hope, hopelessness, and helplessness of man in general. Equally the poet agonizingly contends that humans have to brand compromises.

The commencement half deals with Edgar Allan Poe'southward loss of his beloved. Crestfallen with pain and haemorrhage profusely, he deems the time spent with his fiancée a la fairytale. The gloomy mood reflects the poet's existent-life affairs as his fiancée is taken away from her, leaving him to pick upwards the pieces.

Struggling with fourth dimension, 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 some other.

As the poet embarks on his emotional tirade, he expresses his undying beloved for his wife. Her loss has torn him apart, as he attempts to cope with the hurting. 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 bounding main-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'due south aid in his hr of misery. He speculates whether all of his life was merely a dream after all.

Structure

The poem consists of 24-verses, divided into 2-stanzas one of 11 lines and one consisting of xiii. In totality, it has 9 couplets and 2 triplets. The initial stanza commences with a triplet, followed by couplets.

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme in this poem is besides unlike. The entire scheme can be encapsulated as AAABBCCDDEE FFGGHHHIIJJKK. The entirety of the verse form acts as couplets. More than and then, twice, in two stanzas, three verses seem to rhyme, giving the entire poem some balance.

The poet has used a hypothetical fantasy in this poem to create a deep impact on the heed of the readers. To depict the confusion betwixt the dream and reality, the poet has used a changing rhyme pattern in the poem. Due to this irresolute rhyme design, the readers go an illusionary or dreamy effect while reading this poem. Besides, it confuses them to such an extent that they imagine whether they are really in a dream or reality.

Meter

On the whole, the poem's meter alters considerably. It is a juxtaposition of iambic tetrameter and anapests strewn into ane verse form. Equally a effect, it gives the poem a dreamy/ hazy issue. Things accept a drastic turn every bit is the example with dreams.

The poetic form is slightly erratic. Each verse in this poem consists of 3 feet. An iamb is a dominant human 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, every bit numerous instances are found in this poem.

Poetic Devices

Edgar Allan Poe uses several literary devices that make the speaker'due south thoughts more appealing and center-touching. To begin with, there is a rhetorical exclamation at the very first line. In the following lines, readers tin can find the use of enjambment. This device helps the writer to internally connect the lines. For instance, the lines, "You are not wrong, who deem/ That my days take been a dream."

The following line contains a metaphor. Hither, the poet compares dreams to the foretime days. Merely after this line, readers can discover the use of personification. The poet invests "hope" with the thought of flying, comparing it to a bird or whatever other winged creature.

The seventh and 8th 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 final 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 "sea". Besides, there are repetitions of sounds in the first few lines. For case, the line, "Of a surf-tormented shore" contains a repetition of the "s" audio. It is chosen alliteration.

Too, some more than literary devices make this section more than impassioned than the previous ane. The rhetorically charged lines depict how the speaker feels subsequently being enlightened of the fact that all that he sees is naught 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 country of hopes. No affair how deplorable people are in their lives, they know that there is but 1 place where they tin keep their hopes high – dreamland.

Let'due south have a look at the of import themes used in this slice.

Dream. This poem revolves effectually 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. Fifty-fifty if information technology is a bad dream or a nightmare, nosotros know that the period is going to terminate, 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 stop, someday. In that location is admittedly nothing that stays forever in life. All we take to do is just "await" for the right time of happiness to come to us.
Death. In 'A Dream Inside 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, and then does the life of an individual; the wave is nothing just time, which is 'pitiless' or harsh; time keeps running at its pace, without waiting for anyone. No matter which phase of our lives nosotros want to hold on to it, whether it is good or bad, we just can't exercise then, since it is not even in the hands of God to end or pause fourth dimension.
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 nearly the shore and tries to gather all the wisdom he wishes to, in the confront of sands.

Symbolism

Poe's poem, 'A Dream Within a Dream' contains some important symbols. Firstly, the word, "buss" 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 give-and-take in its literal sense equally well as in a symbolic way. 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 null merely a vision, his mind'south creation.

This word also seems a symbol of beloved or the lady whom he loved. And so, the "dream" is a symbolic reference to his life. Information technology is also giving a hint to the nature of his relationship. Similar a dream, their relationship was momentary and ended abruptly. Every bit it was a vision worth living in once again, he feels lonely afterward waking up in reality.

The second stanza contains some important symbols too. For example, the "shore" is a symbol for the speaker himself. While the waves are compared to the honey of the lady. No matter how refreshing it seemed at commencement manus, at the end of the day, the waves were responsible for the shore's distress. The "sand" is another symbol used here. Information technology 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 straight, elusive, and pensive. The first few lines brainstorm in a fashion that seems the speaker is imagining how the human relationship ended. The terminal 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 idea-provoking to the readers.

The tone of the second stanza does non differ from the starting time one. In that location is only one difference and it tin can exist seen in the line, "While I weep — while I weep!" From this line, information technology becomes articulate to readers that the poetic person is completely heartbroken now. That's why he alludes to the last resort, God for his inabilities. The catastrophe of this section has a difference too. Previously, his phonation was sad and his tone was common cold. But, hither he is asking a question helplessly. This helplessness tin be felt in his tone.

Detailed Analysis

Stanza One

Have this buss upon the forehead!

And, in parting from you at present,

Thus much let me avow —

You are non incorrect, who deem

That my days accept been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown abroad

In a nighttime, or in a twenty-four hours,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is just a dream within a dream.

The speaker opens the poem, 'A Dream Within a Dream,' past kissing the forehead of the dreamer, who had been dreaming for so long. It is time for the poet to bid farewell to the dreamer, for now, it is time for the dreamer to wake upwardly from the dream within the dream.

Let's closely analyze all the lines from the outset stanza.

Lines 1–five

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much allow me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Every bit indicative, the narrator seems unready to part ways, it merely feels too disorienting. He wonders well-nigh promise and its premises. What part does hope play in this romantic entanglement?

In case, hope goes out of the window, then it's curtains for a relationship. Whether it's twenty-four hour period or dark, when promise is gone, all is gone with it. He deems that as long as hope remains, even a dream may seem akin to reality. Equally the significant other walks away, the romantic entanglement seems similar a fairytale of sorts to him. In essence, the adult female could be a dream for him. A dream long lost and fading every bit time passes.

Lines 6–9

Yet if hope has flown abroad

In a night, or in a 24-hour interval,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

"Yet, if the hope has flown away" depicts the depression of the dreamer. He has, probably, gone through a hard time in his life and all that the poet wishes to practice gives some more than hope to the dreamer. The poet says that he is always there to protect the dreamer and inspire him by stating that this dream, the hard time, would also become and he will wake up to meet a meliorate dream in his life.

Through these lines, the poet depicts how "promise" like a winged fauna flown away from the speaker's life. It seems as if he has failed to tame the wild "hope". He does not know whether information technology faded away within a dark or day. It can also exist possible he was having a vision of promise. In reality, it does not exist at all in his life. For this speaker, he is extremely depressed almost his condition.

He says, "Is it therefore the less gone?" The answer is no. Co-ordinate to the speaker what has gone from his life is non a loss that happens oft. Such loss occurs in grave times. And the speaker is going through this phase when the light of hope extinguishes itself by beingness agape of the depressing clasps of misfortune.

Lines 10–11

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

In the terminal lines, the poet has finally come up to terms with reality. He feels that the woman hit the nail on the head when he asserted that his life was just a dream or quasi-reality. Stepping out from the tunnel vision of the poem, this also applies to every individual.

The poet then brings the primal theme of the poem in the final lines. He contends that all human being is just a role of an elaborate dream encapsulated into a compartmentalized dream.

The interpretation is open-concluded equally the following assertions can exist derived.

Firstly, all homo sensory experiences are simply a hallucination experienced by humans, a figment of their imaginations and illusions.

Secondly, if a human is to break from the secondary dream, he's still trapped in a principal dream.

Finally, what signifies reality and dreams? How can he differ from both? These are the questions that readers have to answer while going through the poem.

Stanza Two

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! still how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I cry — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I non save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

The speaker has changed the setting slightly in the next stanza. He imagines himself standing on a sun-lit shore, bathing in the warm sunlight. As he stands on the beach, he scoops up some sand in his palm. He creates some excellent imagery by artificially amalgam ocean waves striking the shore loudly. The air is loud with surfs bashing the coastline; the poet has bigger fish to fry. Whether the poet is actually on a sea-shore or creating imagery is of inconsequence here, due to the larger motion picture in view.

Lines i–vii

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 pitter-patter

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I cry!

The speaker says that he is continuing on a shore, which is probably another dream. As he stands on the shore, he picks up the shimmering golden particles from the sands. The more than he tries to agree the particles in his mitt, the more they slip. Past this argument, the poet means the more than he tries to command time, the more it slips away from his hands. Just similar people don't realize the time when they are dreaming, they don't realize what things they miss when they are living.

The poet seems to be weeping about time and its nonchalant behavior towards men on the whole. As he holds a grain of sand in his hand, it weasels its way out eventually, leaving the poet high and dry.

As the adage goes, time and tide wait for none, the poet seems helpless, at the mercy of fourth dimension. He weeps in anguish and sorrow. At present he seems to exist appealing to God to stop fourth dimension for a moment to savor the moment in all its celebrity. He could exist alluding to the adult female he once had in his life, about to abandon him. The "sands" could be an allusion to the woman.

The roaring surfs can be a representation of reality which whips difficult on the poet's dreamy landscape. Equally a result, no matter how hard he tries, he eventually relinquishes the sand from his clasp. Regardless of his attempts, reality wins in the end, dragging him out of his self-created utopia.

Lines 8–13

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I non save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that nosotros encounter or seem

But a dream within a dream?

In the following lines, the speaker states that he tries to concord on to the particles of sand, to save at least a few of them from the waves, merely he is just not able to, no affair how much he prays to his God. It is when he realizes that it is zero, but a dream within a dream that he is living.

In hindsight, the poet could hateful that life is an ongoing process of people or things incoming and outgoing. Zilch is permanent be information technology happiness or sorrow.

The speaker is total of hope, despite his shortcomings. In the initial stanza, he asserted the theory as humans encapsulated into a dream-like state. At present he poses it as a question to readers. He wonders about the time lost and why the woman part ways with him. He continues to wonder if all his sensory experiences were just imaginative at best.

Historical Context

In authenticity, 'A Dream inside a Dream' is a revision of his earlier published verse form 'Faux' in 1827 plant in Edgar Allan Poe's poetry drove "Tamerlane and Other Poems". This poem was published in the twelvemonth 1849.

2 events could become the catalysts for this poem. His fiancée was sent away from Poe when the clandestine of engagement was divulged. He accumulated a debt of $2,500 in gambling, as a issue, his male parent withdrew him from school. This chain of occurrences could have triggered the melancholia and resentment obvious in the verse form itself. On the other hand, the poem could be a product of pure musing, as well.

Edgar Allan Poe was 1 of the most popular 19th-century American poets. He was a writer and editor also as a literary critic. He was quite famous for the kinds of short stories he wrote. The plots that he had invented were quite different from the writers of his fourth dimension. Poe's poems and stories oftentimes surrounded mysterious concepts of the dark culture. He was one of the first writers, who skilful writing short stories nether the roofs of Romanticism.

FAQs

What is the message of 'A Dream Within a Dream'?

Through this poem, Edgar Allan Poe gives a depressing message regarding the mental country of a heartbroken speaker. He loved a girl with whom he had a brief human relationship. The precipitous catastrophe of the love story has a deeper touch on on his listen. That's why he feels all that he got in life is nothing only "a dream within a dream."

What was "a dream" all about in the poem, 'A Dream Within a Dream'?

In his poem, the word, "dream" can be decoded in several ways. Showtime of all, it refers to the imaginary globe which does not last long. The speaker compares his beloved to a dream metaphorically. The phrase, "a dream" is a part of some other dream that does not have a fixed meaning in the text, but the underlying idea remains the same.

What is the mood in 'A Dream Within a Dream'?

The mood of the poem, 'A Dream Inside a Dream' is thoroughly sad, depressing, and monotonous. Being marooned from the joys of life, the speaker'southward life has turned out to exist an enclosed infinite without whatsoever sign of light. His mood reflects this hopelessness and loneliness.

Who has said, "All that we see or seem/ Is only a dream within a dream"?

In 'A Dream Within a Dream,' Edgar Allan Poe's poetic persona or the poem'due south speaker says, "All that we run across or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream." These lines appear at the end of each stanza and they form a refrain.

What is the significant of "all that nosotros see or seem/ But a dream inside a dream"?

These lines, "all that we see or seem/ But a dream inside a dream" have a deeper meaning that is associated with the idea of existentialism. To understand the meaning of these lines, readers have to feel how a person going through a series of misfortunes feels. Such a speaker is present in this poem. He feels as if what is there, in reality, is null just a dream. Non just a dream, just information technology is also a part of some other vision. As the pleasant phases of his life chop-chop flee away, he thinks all that he loves is like a dream, pacing farther from him. That'due south why he thinks what he sees is a dream. And those dreams occur within some other "dream" that is compared to his life.

Similar Poetry

Here is a listing of some important poems that tap on similar kinds of themes nowadays in Edgar Allan Poe's poem, 'A Dream Within a Dream'.

Dream Country by Christina Rossetti – It'south 1 of the best-known poems of Christina Rossetti. This poem describes a woman's escape from the pain and physicality of the real world and her journey into a deeply meditative state of peace. Explore more Christina Rossetti poetry.
I Dream'd in a Dream by Walt Whitman – Information technology's one of the popular poems of Walt Whitman. This poem depicts a speaker'southward dream of a Utopia world in which love is the reference point for all directions and deportment. Read more than poems of Walt Whitman.
Life is but a Dream past Lewis Carroll – This poem represents the logical and illogical aspects of Carroll's "Alice'southward Adventures in Wonderland." It stands as a tribute to the work also as its readers. Explore more than poetry from Lewis Carroll.
The Dream past John Donne – Information technology'south one of the all-time John Donne poems. This poem explores how a speaker dreams about his beloved and the lines record his realization. Read more poems of John Donne.

You can besides read about these incredible poems on dreams and the best-loved poems of Edgar Allan Poe.

A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe