What are the main themes and ideas presented in the two stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe's poem "A Dream Within a Dream"?
6. This is the answer, what would be the question?
Student's Answer: In the first stanza, the speaker says goodbye to a loved one, and it seems that their goodbye stems from the narrator's lover criticizing how he lives his life: that his days seem to be like dreams. He asserts at the end of the first stanza that all "is but a dream within a dream" (Line 11). In the second stanza, the speaker stands at a beach, holding sand as it slips through his fingers. When he realizes he cannot hold on to the grains, he begins to question the assertion he made in the first stanza. He asks "Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?" in the final two lines. By questioning the same premise the speaker had established in the first stanza, Poe further emphasizes how unknowable and mysterious life is.
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Responses
How does the division of the poem into two stanzas contribute to its meaning?
How does the division of the poem into two stanzas contribute to its meaning?
What is the central idea of stanza 1 and stanza 2?
What is the central idea of stanza 1 and stanza 2?
How does the author compare and contrast the first and second stanza?
How does the author compare and contrast the first and second stanza?
How does the tone shift from stanza 1 to stanza 2?
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1 answer