Grief holds power over the mind, bringing sorrowful thoughts and painful memories to a life once bound for happiness. Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood could have been one of dreams, but instead was consumed by the nightmare that was the death of both his parents. In the years that followed, many of those around him met their demise and left a mark on the writer. Seemingly in a constant state of grief, Poe never saw true happiness. Specifically, the death of Poe’s wife brought him pain shortly before he wrote the poem “A Dream Within a Dream.” Soon after the same poem was published, mysterious circumstances led Poe to join his wife in death. The poem has a dark theme that brings to question the sanity of the author, and what in his life influenced
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Edgar Allan Poe was a victim of this time and time again. Shortly after his birth, Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned, and during the remaining years of his life he further experienced the pain of loss. Beginning with the abandonment of his father, then shorty followed by the death of his mother, Edgar Allan Poe experienced two significant losses in the first two years of his life. (Constankis) Years later, the death of Poe’s wife, Virginia, left the writer in a state of great despair. “Virginia’s health was steadily declining. After her death from tuberculosis in 1847, he began lecturing, in addition to continuing to write short fiction and poetry.” (Constantakis) One of the poems that was written after her death was titled “A Dream Within a Dream” and focused on the loss of a loved one, assumed to be Virginia, and the effect that it had on the speaker, Poe. “As the poem progresses, the reader is led, by the speaker’s sense of grief and loss, to the conclusion that this parting is a final one.” (Constantakis) Saying goodbye is difficult, and Poe had to do this more often than most, as well as earlier than most. In “A Dream Within a Dream” after his farewell, Edgar Allan Poe goes on to question the many other feelings that are associated with …show more content…
To continue living after experiencing devastating loss brings countless challenges to everyday life. It may seem as if one is in a constant race against time. A major theme in this poem stems from time and the feeling that one does not have enough. “Grains of the golden sand...How few! yet how they creep...Through my fingers to the deep” (Poe) The grains of sand “are commonly used poetic images meant to represent time and its passage” as well as emphasize the inevitability and eventuality of death. (Constantakis) The desperation in the speaker’s words is evident while he talks of the grains of sand, and further calls out to God. “...the speaker’s sense of hopelessness is undeniable, and even his faith is depicted as futile.” (Constantakis) The speaker is questioning God as to why their loved one had to go, mirroring Poe’s life and the many hardships he continuously had to face. The loss of faith also merges into the loss of hope the speaker feels. “Like the loved one, hope has departed. The speaker describes the way hope has fled, and he contemplates the way hope… can disappear…” (Constantakis) As the speaker never expected to lose this person, all hopes of their future were suddenly lost forever as a result of death. The speaker’s “...hope has flown away…” (Poe) leaving
Edgar Allan Poe was a victim of this time and time again. Shortly after his birth, Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned, and during the remaining years of his life he further experienced the pain of loss. Beginning with the abandonment of his father, then shorty followed by the death of his mother, Edgar Allan Poe experienced two significant losses in the first two years of his life. (Constankis) Years later, the death of Poe’s wife, Virginia, left the writer in a state of great despair. “Virginia’s health was steadily declining. After her death from tuberculosis in 1847, he began lecturing, in addition to continuing to write short fiction and poetry.” (Constantakis) One of the poems that was written after her death was titled “A Dream Within a Dream” and focused on the loss of a loved one, assumed to be Virginia, and the effect that it had on the speaker, Poe. “As the poem progresses, the reader is led, by the speaker’s sense of grief and loss, to the conclusion that this parting is a final one.” (Constantakis) Saying goodbye is difficult, and Poe had to do this more often than most, as well as earlier than most. In “A Dream Within a Dream” after his farewell, Edgar Allan Poe goes on to question the many other feelings that are associated with …show more content…
To continue living after experiencing devastating loss brings countless challenges to everyday life. It may seem as if one is in a constant race against time. A major theme in this poem stems from time and the feeling that one does not have enough. “Grains of the golden sand...How few! yet how they creep...Through my fingers to the deep” (Poe) The grains of sand “are commonly used poetic images meant to represent time and its passage” as well as emphasize the inevitability and eventuality of death. (Constantakis) The desperation in the speaker’s words is evident while he talks of the grains of sand, and further calls out to God. “...the speaker’s sense of hopelessness is undeniable, and even his faith is depicted as futile.” (Constantakis) The speaker is questioning God as to why their loved one had to go, mirroring Poe’s life and the many hardships he continuously had to face. The loss of faith also merges into the loss of hope the speaker feels. “Like the loved one, hope has departed. The speaker describes the way hope has fled, and he contemplates the way hope… can disappear…” (Constantakis) As the speaker never expected to lose this person, all hopes of their future were suddenly lost forever as a result of death. The speaker’s “...hope has flown away…” (Poe) leaving