Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Dream within a Dream†(1849) is a poem dramatizing the losses of a man, and his reflection if his life is real or unreal. The narrator is reflecting about the elusiveness of things and people he value, since they all seem to disappear. The poem questions if reality is fantasy, thus the title, “A Dream within a Dreamâ€. Since this was published in the year of Poe’s death, some assume that the narrator is talking about the death of his loved ones, and the troubles in his life.The poem begins with an image of parting and addresses a specific person. This person is only mentioned in the first stanza; the second stanza does not mention any person at all. Others interpret this person as abstract, meaning that the narrator talks to life or love personified, or any abstract idea, and not a real person. The narrator, talking to this person, ponders whether his “days have been a dream†(5), and speaks of losing hope. He sees his life as if he is trapped, as shown in the lines, “All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream†(10-11).
