A Dream Within a Dream

A dream within a dream 1. Good morning today I will be talking about the poem a dream within a dream written by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1827. The poem is a two stanza lyric poem. The poet asks himself if a person can determine the difference between reality and fantasy by asking † is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream†. The poet is reflecting his feelings of the time and exaggerating his confusion as he is watching the important things in his life slip away as if they were grains of sand held in his hand, finally he comes to the conclusion that all the things in his life is part of a dream. . Poe uses the form of poetry called a lyric poem. A lyric poem is a form of poetry which can be categorized into other forms of poetry such as ballads and odes. Lyric poems are used to express deep feelings and thoughts. Because the poet has used the form of a lyric poem emphasizes the fact that the narrator is going through difficult times and is conflicte d by confusing emotions. 3. It begins at the moment of parting—a clean kiss on the forehead that shows the passion between them had been stopped. His beloved has accused him of living in a dream, with his head stuck in the clouds.Presumably making him far from marriageable material. 4. His joy in the love they shared was not returned so his hope has, as he says, â€Å"flown away†. But he wonders if his love has really gone and asks what really exists in his life. The continuous rhyme has a strange sweetness, with couplets and triplets sending us tumbling effortlessly through the lines. The repetition of the word dream throughout the poem gives the poem a glaze like effect because we delve deeper into the different emotions and thoughts of Poe's mind. . In the second stanza we are moved from a civil society to an unruly sea side, the water and waves are used to represent the tides of thoughts, feelings and reactions that flow endlessly in and out of our mind each day. 6 . The two stanzas appear to be completely different but they are connected through the aspect of the end of love and time. The grains of sand symbolize an hourglass which shows the route of time and as the sand keeps flowing the time disappears and at the same time the narrators loves also disappearing. 7. And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep† this is a metaphor used in the second stanza where Poe compares the few grains of sand in his hand to the few important things in life he has left. He says that even though there are few left they can slip away from our minds into the forgotten. He wants to know why he can't hold onto the things that he believes to be so dear to him. It relates to life in the way that it is so easy to forget things that are important to us. 8.