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?

This poem is a lot less structured in plot than all of the other poems I chose - it is more theoretical than anything. I like it because it's a rhetorical, speculative side of Poe. So many of his poems are dark and definite, whereas this one is almost like peering into his mind, and the inner conflict within him.

Iambic Trimeter - As mentioned earlier, iambic is placing a stressed syllable after every unstressed syllable, ie a horse galloping. Trimeter implies that there are three iambic segments in each line of the poem.

Personification - "hope has flown away" (6). This personification gives hope the animate verb of flying, thus giving the sense that hope is retreating from the narrator. Flying is seen not only as poetic, but grandiose, implying that hope is willingly going far, far away. For example, "hope walked away" would not have the same dramatic effect.

Rhyme - The rhyme scheme is as follows: AAABBCCDDBB EEFFGGGHHIIJJBB the structure clearly ends with two couplets at the end of each stanza with a similar rhyme scheme. The other rhymes are in succession of each other and range from 1-2 lines. This adds a lot of style and flow to the poem.