"A Dream Within a Dream" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The poem is 24 lines, divided into two stanzas. The poem questions the way one can distinguish between reality and fantasy, asking, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?"
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"A Dream Within a Dream" reflects Poe's feelings about his life at the time, dramatizing his confusion in watching the few precious things in his life slip away.[1] Realizing he cannot hold onto even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream.[2]
The poem references "golden sand," an image derived from the 1848 discovery of gold in California.[1]
Alternately, it may be interpreted that the "golden sand" is an allusion to the author's loved ones, and that each is inevitably swept away by death (the pitiless wave), no matter how tight a clasp the author tries to retain them with.
The poem was first published in the March 31, 1849 edition of a Boston-based periodical called Flag of Our Union.[2] The same publication had only two weeks before first published Poe's short story "Hop-Frog." The next month, owner Frederick Gleason announced it could no longer pay for whatever articles and poems it published.
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"A Dream Within a Dream" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The poem is 24 lines, divided into two stanzas. The poem questions the way one can distinguish between reality and fantasy, asking, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?"
| Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
Contents |
"A Dream Within a Dream" reflects Poe's feelings about his life at the time, dramatizing his confusion in watching the important things in his life slip away.[1] Realizing he cannot hold onto even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream.[2]
The poem references "golden sand," an image derived from the 1848 discovery of gold in California.[1]
Alternately, it may be interpreted that the "golden sand" is an allusion to the author's loved ones, and that each is inevitably swept away by death (the pitiless wave), no matter how tight a clasp the author tries to retain them with.
The poem was first published in the March 31, 1849 edition of a Boston-based periodical called Flag of Our Union.[2] The same publication had only two weeks before first published Poe's short story "Hop-Frog." The next month, owner Frederick Gleason announced it could no longer pay for whatever articles and poems it published.
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Dream Within a Dream by |
A poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849,
that questions the way one can distinguish between reality and
fantasy, asking, "Is all that we see or seem but 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?
-- THE END --
for Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes. And Barbara with infinite love as I
falter on the road to Ithaka
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This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. |
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