“A Dream Within a Dream” Introduction

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“A Dream Within a Dream” Summary

“A Dream Within a Dream” Themes

• 

  Reality, Illusion, and Control

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Dream Within a Dream”

• Lines 1-5

  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;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-11

  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.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-15

  I stand amid the roar
  Of a surf-tormented shore,
  And I hold within my hand
  Grains of the golden sand —

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-18

  How few! yet how they creep
  Through my fingers to the deep,
  While I weep — while I weep!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-24

  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?

  

  

  

  

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“A Dream Within a Dream” Symbols

• 

  Sand

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“A Dream Within a Dream” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Epizeuxis

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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“A Dream Within a Dream” Vocabulary

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• Brow
• Avow
• Deem
• Amid
• Surf-tormented
• Clasp
• Pitiless

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Dream Within a Dream”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“A Dream Within a Dream” Speaker

“A Dream Within a Dream” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “A Dream Within a Dream”

More “A Dream Within a Dream” Resources

• External Resources

  • Letters From Poe — A collection of Poe's correspondence. 

  • Descartes and Dreams — An article that discusses French philosopher René Descartes's take on the philosophical problems posed by dreams.

  • More of Poe's Poems and Life Story — Check out resources on Poe from the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to the poem read by Tom O'Bedlam.

  • Radio Documentary — A BBC documentary looking at Poe's life and work. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

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  • Annabel Lee

  • Sonnet to Science

  • The Conqueror Worm

  • To Helen