Poetry Corner: "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe

Thursday, October 25, 2012


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? 
-- Edgar Allan Poe

4 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful poem. I think I fall into the trap of pegging Edgar Allan Poe's writing as always being creepy and forget that he wrote beautiful things too. Thanks for the reminder! :)

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    1. It would have been really interesting to be inside his head. I think often even his creepy writing has some elements of beauty to it -- everything is just so haunted and dark for him.

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  2. Beautiful, beautiful poem. I like Poe, though my favourites have been "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven". I like his choice of words, the air in his poems, and the darkness he brings in. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I like what you say about the "air in his poems." That is a good way to describe it.

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