A dream within a dream poem summary?

Answer 1

When he wrote this poem Poe was in a bad emotional state because his beloved young wife, Virginia Clemm, had recently died of Tuberculosis.

No matter how hard he tried to hold on to her, her life slipped through his fingers to Death like grains of sand consumed by the waves of the shore. And in his very emotional state (when in fact he became a total drunk and lost touch with reality) life itself just seems to be a dream. It simply means that the poet lost the person he loved. All his unfulfilled hopes are dreams, which gives the poem its title.

NOTE: Virginia Clemm Poe died on January 30, 1847, and 'A Dream Within a Dream' was published on March 31, 1849 yet everything said above is still valid.

Answer 2

"A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem about the fleeting nature of time and the difficulty of distinguishing between reality and illusion. The speaker questions the reality of his experiences, suggesting that life is uncertain and transient. Ultimately, the poem reflects on the philosophical concept of existence and the passing of time.

Answer 3

The figurative meaning can be interpreted several different ways to each person. In 'A Dream Within a Dream', some believe the kiss to be a symbol of the last kiss to someone on their deathbed. But opinions of the figurative meaning behind this poem vary with each opinion. So the figurative meaning of this poem is what his words symbolize to YOU, and nobody else.
From reading the poem for the first time, I think that the title itself provides a paradox, because somehow it makes sense. The poem questions reality, if "my days have been a dream" or "is all that we see or seem/But a dream within a dream?" It's a little bit tough for me to analyze this poem, but I believe that Poe is trying to say that you should be careful of what is fantasy and reality. There are some significant moments in our lives when we feel that something is not truly real until we have to reach out and explore it for ourselves.

Answer 4

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?

Answer 5

"A Dream Within A Dream" is about saying goodbye to one's love, with the goodbye instigated by death. The "pitiless wave" in line 22 refers to death, who takes no matter how much one wants to stop it.

Answer 6

The phase dream within a dream is a metaphor stating the wishes of life. HE compared life to dream because he is saying how life is short, so we need to grasp it quickly.

Answer 7

A poem where the speaker feels hopless and hyper