Edgar Allen Poe's '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?




I think that in this poem, Poe is trying to remind us that even though we may work towards something our whole life, nothing is guaranteed.  He is telling us that no matter how hard we try to hold on to the grains of sand that make up our lives, sometimes they still slip away.  Our dreams don't last forever, we all wake up eventually...it's the same with our lives.  No moment can last forever, so we have to enjoy it while we have the chance.  I think that Poe also feels like he has been defeated in a sense.  He is ad that he can't save the grains of sand from falling into the ocean and being washed away. Maybe this is because he has recently lost something and he feels guilty about it.  Or maybe he just misses something or someone who slipped away from him.  This poem can be interpreted many ways, and I admire Poe for creating a poem with such versatility.  It allows everyone to get something out of it.  Great poem.