Poetry Explication

Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream within a Dream"

Before Edgar Allen Poe began writing poetry, he was greatly impacted by the death of two loved ones. The first was his mother when he was only two years of age, and the second was a woman he fell in love with when he was fourteen years of age. This woman was much older than he, but he was very much in love with her. She passed away about a year after he had fallen for her. There were also other deaths of loved ones that greatly impacted Poe throughout his life.

As one reads the poem "A Dream within a Dream" he will soon realize it has something to do with the death of someone Poe had loved. This person could quite possibly be an ex-girlfriend or just someone who was very close to him and he loved her dearly. The first stanza talks about how Poe is telling her to accept his kiss goodbye. Now they are completely separated because she has passed away. He then questions if his life has been a dream, since hope has been lost so quickly. He questions if there is hope left, and then goes on to say that everything we see or even think about is a dream. In this stanza Poe seems hopeless.

Breaking Poe's poems down line by line could be a very difficult task, considering his poems are sometimes confusing and hard to follow; especially if one does not know his background. "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;" (Poe 1-5) These five lines mean, accept this kiss on your forehead, Since we are separated now, let me admit, You are not wrong no matter what people think, My whole life has been a dream. The next few lines state, "Yet if hope has flown away/ In a night, or in a day,/ In a vision, or in none,/ Is it therefore less gone?"(Poe 6-9) These lines mean even if hope is lost very quickly, whether one understands or not, is there any hope left at all? Does it even matter at all when there is no hope left? The last two lines are also repeated in the second stanza, "All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream." (Poe 10-11) In other words, everything that people see or even think is a dream. This means sometimes reality seems like a dream, and sometimes we might wish it were in some circumstances.

The second stanza is about how time is essential. Time can run out and there is nothing one can do about it. In this stanza there is a lot of symbolism which can be interpreted in many ways. First, the sand might be symbolic to time. The sand is golden because time is extremely valuable. If the sand is symbolic to time then this could make his hand symbolic to an hourglass. The pitiless wave could be symbolic to death and the shore itself may be symbolic to life. When the wave crashes on the shore it washes away the sand, which might mean death overcomes life. There are a couple things repeated in this stanza which are important. Obviously Poe is upset and probably crying as one can see in line seven of the second stanza, "While I weep- while I weep" (Poe 18) Another repetitive phrase which is an important element to the poem would be "O God!" It seems as if Poe is crying out to God for help.

Since the second stanza has so much symbolism,