if at all possible i would appreciate it if you could send me the symbolism for poe's poem A Dream. thank you very much.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001

Answers

I hope we are talking about the same poem. In 16 verses, 4stanzas, Poe talks of dreamining about alost ideal past. There are two kinds of dream, the night dream where one may in the refuge of sleep find joy in the memory and the "daydream" where the poet has his glance partly fixed on the past. As in several other poems Poe symbolizes the far off memories as a beam, a light,a beacon trembling in a storm, leading back to that holy land of childhood happiness. For him this light is Truth's Daystar(planet Venus, harbinger of dawn). So the symbol is quite intimately connected to his clinging to his spiritual base in his childhood, and all else, all the journeys from and the journey through death to Hope, are the dream within that dream. This is the positive side of Poe's vision, still, one may note, beset by trouble, disappointment and imperfection in his everyday life. Other poems that lose sight of this "light" become much more despairing. This is a personal evaluation. It is hard to get inside of someone's head like this, but the imagery and themes are very commonplace and seem very important to Poe's grip on his soul.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001