A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

This is the poem that I have chosen for the IT home learning.

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 will now be elaborating on the figurative language used.

There is a hyperbole from the last 6th line to the last 3rd line. The writer used the hyperbole in order to place emphasis on that few lines. The author also used the hyperbole in order to better express his feelings and emotions.

From the last 7th line, there is also another hyperbole( While I weep--while I weep! )
The author used a hyperbole there in order to emphasis that he wept profusely.

A Dream Within a Dream" reflects Poe's feelings about his life at the time, dramatizing his confusion in watching the few precious things in his life slip away. Realizing he cannot hold onto even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream.

The poem references "golden sand," an image derived from the 1848 discovery of gold in California.

Alternately, it may be interpreted that the "golden sand" is an allusion to the author's loved ones, and that each is inevitably swept away by death (the pitiless wave), no matter how tight a clasp the author tries to retain them with.

I like this poem because it shows us the feelings the poet have at the time. It is evident that the poet put a lot of effort in composing the poem. This poem is extremely sad, but I think it is very good, for it really reflects the author's emotions.