My favourite poem: E-Learning

This is my favourite poem

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

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?

1.PERSONIFICATION

'Of a surf-tormented shore'

It means that even shores can be tormented y the surfs and waves, just like humans.

2.METAPHOR

'Yet if hope has flown away'

This compares hope to a bird without using 'like' or 'as'.

Reason for liking this poem

I think that this poem is trying to express the gap between fantasy and reality. In a fantasy world, dreams can come alive but it is often not true for reality. Different from the fantasy world, reality is a cruel, unfeeling place, whereas the fantasy world often make everything look so incredible and achievable. I like the lines :

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,

I think that they are expressing the hardships we have to face in reality, where holding a handful of sand can also be so difficult. This poem shows the difference of the fantasy and real world, stirring my emotions too. That is why I like this poem.