*Dec 13 2025 | "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan 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?

The contrasting tenor between the two stanzas is almost jarring, first solemn and almost accepting, then frantic and despairing. I want to read them as from separate narrators, but don't see any indication within the poem there are two. In both is found the simple "I", though also in the first are "you" and "we" while in the second there is only "we".

Lily, Poe is not a favourite of mine but I do have to admit a certain feverish musicality. The rhyming structure is interesting in that both verses have one section of three line rhyme repeats but placed in different parts of the verse and the irregularity of the length of the two verses is also noticeable, whether by carelessness or design, I am not entirely sure.

>3 PaulCranswick: I honestly like the way he rhymes too, sometimes the verses are longer than usual, and some long poems are better than shorter ones

I've only read a very few poems by Poe that have energy like his second verse, so it was interesting to read the first verse of this.

>3 PaulCranswick: I would guess that most things written by Poe would fall under design rather than carelessness. He was a firm believer in planning out everything he would write before beginning. Here's a link to his article "The Philosophy of Composition": https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69390/the-philosophy-of-composition, where he discusses his principles of writing. Another of his principles was that the best writing should be read in one sitting, so (relatively) short poetry and short stories were his preference.

>2 elenchus: It does seem very much split in tone, yet two sides of a coin. The difference between daytime thoughts and nighttime thoughts, youth and old age...

>5 AnishaInkspill: Energy, yes that's it. The second has more energy, more explicit emotion.

>6 saskia17: That's a great resource, Nica, goes an interesting way toward a deeper understanding of Poe. Wouldn't it be grand if we had something like that for all poets and writers?

A Dream Within A Dream..... can be a beautiful thing or a nightmare depending on how much fear creeps in to your thoughts.

>7 DebiCates: Apart from the ending refrain you would be forgiven for thinking that they are actually two different poems.

I think this poem is written with design and expresses extremes of thought and feeling. On the one hand, and at one time or another anyone might relate to them both. On the other hand, they sit uncomfortably well together.

To me, it starts building up towards the anguish of that second stanza with the hope flying away midway through the first. Foreshadowing that the serenity of the tone is not quite what's underneath. Absolutely love the image of grains of golden sand slipping through his fingers. I don't always relate to Poe's anguish, but here it breaks my heart

>2 elenchus: in the first are "you" and "we" while in the second there is only "we".

It occurs to me now this arguably accounts for the anguish of the second stanza: the narrator is literally without the "you" addressed in the first. That's the reason for the change, the beloved is gone.

>14 elenchus: Reading it that way does make the two stanzas combine together into a whole. Very astute.

Overly rhymy for Poe, but powerful as a result of that.

Odd and brilliant and dead by 40

And, thank you for sharing this not-so-famous poem.

Evermore

>16 hamlet61: your very welcome

I am a big fan of Poe. Grains of golden sand, indeed... Who among us has not felt the press of time slipping away? Prescient words for Poe himself to have written... Thank you for sharing.

>18 GraceCollection: Welcome!

A unique and heartbreaking portrayal of feelings connected to the anguish of loss and time slipping away. Thank you very much for sharing.

Very nice choice, Louis, thanks. The shortness makes it seem a real "cry from the heart" from an author in general much more verbose.