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?
By : Edgar Allan Poe
Summary
The poem opens with the speaker peacing out on his ladylove. He kisses her and tells her she is not wrong in saying that all his days have been a dream. In fact, before he splits, he outright says that all he sees and seems is but a dream within a dream.
In the next stanza, the speaker’s standing on a loud beach, watching golden grains of sand slip through his fingers. In a classic emo moment, he cries out to God, wishing he could hold on to the sand with a tighter grip (why? Who knows). The poem concludes with the speaker unsure about whether or not everything he sees and seems is just a dream within a dream .
Courtesy : http://www.shmoop.com/dream-within-a-dream/summary.html
lifeanexperience 