A Dream Within a Dream
By: Edgar Allan Poe
Take this kiss upon the brow! A
And, in parting from you now, A
Thus much let me avow -- A
You are not wrong, who deem B
5 That my days have been a dream; B
Yet if hope has flown away C
In a night, or in a day, C
In a vision, or in none, D
Is it therefore the less gone? D
10 All that we see or seem B
Is but a dream within a dream. B
I stand amid the roar E
Of a surf-tormented shore, E
And I hold within my hand F
15 Grains of the golden sand -- F
How few! yet how they creep G
Through my fingers to the deep, G
While I weep — while I weep! G
O God! can I not grasp H
20 Them with a tighter clasp? H
O God! can I not save I
One from the pitiless wave? I
Is all that we see or seem B
But a dream within a dream? B
Poe uses rhyming and syllables to help create a rhythm. The word of each line rhymes with another. Most of the rhhymes are pairs, but both stanzas have one set of three lines in which the last word rhymes. There is also the gruop of six lines that rhyme (lines 4,5,10,11,24,25). The rhyming words emphasize the last beat of every line. The syllable pattern for each line is 7 or 6. It gives the poem a definite beat and reads comfortably out loud.
And, in parting from you now, A
Thus much let me avow -- A
You are not wrong, who deem B
5 That my days have been a dream; B
Yet if hope has flown away C
In a night, or in a day, C
In a vision, or in none, D
Is it therefore the less gone? D
10 All that we see or seem B
Is but a dream within a dream. B
I stand amid the roar E
Of a surf-tormented shore, E
And I hold within my hand F
15 Grains of the golden sand -- F
How few! yet how they creep G
Through my fingers to the deep, G
While I weep — while I weep! G
O God! can I not grasp H
20 Them with a tighter clasp? H
O God! can I not save I
One from the pitiless wave? I
Is all that we see or seem B
But a dream within a dream? B
Poe uses rhyming and syllables to help create a rhythm. The word of each line rhymes with another. Most of the rhhymes are pairs, but both stanzas have one set of three lines in which the last word rhymes. There is also the gruop of six lines that rhyme (lines 4,5,10,11,24,25). The rhyming words emphasize the last beat of every line. The syllable pattern for each line is 7 or 6. It gives the poem a definite beat and reads comfortably out loud.