A Dream Within a Dream

A Dream Within a Dream
By Edgar Allen 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? 

Interpretation of “A Dream Within a Dream”

By Kaitlyn

This poem is by Edgar Allen Poe and has 24 lines and 2 stanzas. At the end of each stanza he ends it by saying a dream within a dream. This poem is in first person. The narrator uses lots of examples to represent what she is talking about in this story. I think this story is about the narrator talking about her own life or somebody else’s.

“Take this kiss upon the brow” (Poe, ln. 1). I think this line means a mother and father kissing there child goodbye or goodnight. “And, in parting from you know” (Poe, 1n.2) means there leaving and saying there final goodbye. “You are not wrong; who deem/that my days have been a dream” (Poe, ln.4-5) the child is saying please don’t go haven’t you loved this place and why would you want to leave? The father is responding you are not wrong I will miss place and it has been so great almost a dream but when he says “Yet if hope has flown away” (Poe, ln.6) the father is saying I hoped I wouldn’t have to leave but sadly I have to know because faith deserted me. The beginning is very sad and can mean many different things but I think it’s a father kissing there child goodbye as he has to leave for war even though he doesn’t want to go.

“Yet if hope has flown away/in a night, or in a day/in a vision”, or in none’(Poe,1n.6-7-8) it sounds like the father is saying yes we both know hope has left us but we are still together no matter what, day and night can’t keep us apart. We can find our ways to remember each other without seeing them. I’m not really leaving you because I’m still in your heart. “All that we see or seem/is but a dream within a dream. (Poe, 1n.1-/11).                                                                

        The child sadly had to watch his dad get on the train and leave but it’s almost like a dream. I can’t relate my emotions to this story because of how powerful it is. “While I weep- while I weep!”(Poe, 1n.18) the child is crying and in the poem she next said; “O god! Can I not grasp/with a tighter clasp? O god! Can I not save/One from the pitiless wave?” The child wants to stop the train and be with him but he can’t. He or she thinks going to war is the worst thing possible and is going to take away his dad forever but it really won’t and his dad couldn’t explain that to him.                                                                                                              

I think there is a lot of detail in this story but not enough to know what’s really going on But, I get the main idea. When I put this poem in my own interpretation (Poe,ln19) came up with something totally different than what I expected.  When I did this poem came out so sad and emotional and I think that is what the author intended to put out there for everyone who read this.