Recently in class we have been discussing the power of the word (both written and spoken). Dr. Redick asked us all to locate a poem that we find intriguing and then he gave us the opportunity to read the poems in class. I chose to read “A Dream within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe. Before presenting this poem to the class I had read over it a few times, silently to myself. When I read Poe’s words out loud, I was finally able to grasp their true meaning. In this poem, the speaker is questioning his existence.
In the first stanza, the speaker parts with his love and then contemplates his life experiences. He admits that his life has been a dream, and then hints that everything may be “a dream within a dream.” In the second stanza the speaker finds himself standing on a beach crying. He watches sand slip through his hands and questions whether he could save just one grain from the waves. The speaker is wondering what it means to be alive. Is life simply a dream within a dream? He is trying to hold onto the dream which is slipping away from him (much like the sand slipping out of his hands). This longing to be a part of something larger than ourselves may be a component of human nature.
Reading this moving poem out loud was definitely a meaningful experience for me. I was able to share the powerful words of Edgar Allan Poe with the class. If I hadn’t read this poem to the class, I wouldn’t have experienced it fully.
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