“A Dream Within a dream” is a melancholic poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in 1849. The poem conveys the message of ones life slowly slipping away into death. This poem contains literary elements of personification and rhetorical questions to convey the overall theme of the positive and hopeful aspects in life vs reality of death. 

 “A Dream Within a Dream” is a lyric poem containing 24 lines and 2 stanzas. It does have a rhyme pattern that adds to the tone. The tone is one of despair. The first stanza is more optimistic whereas the second stanza is more gloomy because of the portrayal of losing control and hope.

  First, Poe uses the element of personification. The poem says, “hope has flown away” in the first stanza. This gives the concept of “hope” the ability to fly away. This contributes to the idea of losing control of the inevitable… death. Another example of personification is the line “one from the pitiless wave” in the second stanza. This gives the quality “pitiless” to waves of the sea. In other words saying the waves of the sea will always keep going no matter what, so to hopeless is coming despite how the writer feels. This emphasizes the idea of having no control because literally no one can tame the waves. The poet clearly feels there is no stopping the feeling of hopelessness coming upon him.

  Additionally, by using rhetorical questions, Poe shows the reader the sense of drama in his feelings. Examples from the poem are “Can I not grasp them with a tighter clasp?” and “Is all we see or seem but a dream within a dream?”  These examples emphasize the author’s feelings of losing hope. In a sense saying, why can I not hold on to my life tighter? Why is everything slipping away like the sand in the sea? The last rhetorical question he is asking himself, “Has my life been a dream all this time?” This makes the reader feel the sense of desperation because he is not ready for death to overtake him.

  Summarily, the poem “A Dream Within a Dream” by the famous Edgar Allan Poe clearly portrays the theme of the reality of death after a long lived hopeful life. No doubt many people even today can relate to the deep feelings of this writing.