Edgar Allan Poe has become one of the most highly regarded and most well respected authors in American literature, largely because of his unique ability to transport the reader to an ethereal realm of fantasy and mystery. Masterfully eliciting strong human emotions of love, betrayal, and loss, Poe uses a fantastic array of imagery and language that gives his works a sense of eeriness. His works include distinctive elements such as a raven who heralded fate and a human heart that lay disembodied and beating beneath a floorboard. Elements such as these give Poe’s most famous works a characteristically chilling connection to the supernatural. Poe’s poetry, written from a more poignant standpoint, employs the same elements of fantasy coupled with the supernatural. Through his poetic use of dreams, the lines between fantasy and reality are effectively blurred.
Two poems in particular, “Dream-land” and “Dream Within a Dream”, utilize dreams as a means for allowing both author and reader to detach themselves from the harsh realities of human suffering. One significant distinction separating the two poems is that in “Dream Within a Dream” the speaker is not alone. This fact is evidenced in the poem’s opening line: “Take this kiss upon the brow!” (Poe 1), where the author is clearly speaking to a companion. Even so, the poem emanates a melancholy tone because the companion is obviously leaving the speaker’s life in some way, perhaps through death, as indicated in the following verse: “And in parting from you now, this much let me avow…” (Poe 2-3).........read more
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