A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Full Text

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?

Overview

Poe questions reality itself, using the image of slipping sand to dramatize loss and impermanence.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-11

A farewell becomes a meditation on whether life is only a fleeting dream.

Lines 12-24

The speaker’s attempt to hold sand mirrors the futile attempt to hold time and certainty.

Themes

• Impermanence
• Loss
• Reality versus illusion
• Despair

Literary Devices

Symbolism

grains of the golden sand — Represents time and fragile moments.

Rhetorical question

Is all that we see or seem... — Amplifies existential doubt.

Historical Context

Written near the end of Poe’s life, the poem reflects a lifelong preoccupation with loss and uncertainty.