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This poem is about time.
Here are the definitions:
avow: to confess
deem: to consider
amid: surrounded by
tormented: caused to experience suffering (so a surf-tormented shore is a shore constantly hit by waves)
grasp: seize
pitiless: (pretty self-explanatory) showing no pity; cruel
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I am finally getting my notes in on Owlgirl's poem. Here they are!
When you say "An object omen" I think "An object;
an omen." May fit better. Also, I like the rhythm of the poem, but a lot of one-word-lines make the rhythm choppier. Used sparingly, they can have a dramatic effect, but you may want to use less of them in your poem. Over all, I was enthralled by your storytelling!
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Thanks for critiquing my poem. You really understand poetry.
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Thank you! The best way to learn is to read, read, read.
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I still don't know what Poe means by "a dream within a dream".All I can think of is a dream about dreaming, but that doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the poems.
Daaaaaah, any ideas?
If you have a thought, Admin, do tell.
Well, line five says "my days have been a dream." To me that says that the narrator's real life has been dreamy, idyllic, like a dream. When he encounters troubles or challenges in his life ("if hope has flown away") it may be harder to see the dreamy qualities of life, and he has to imagine them and the future as "a dream within a dream."
We're really enjoying this poetry club, Owlgirl and other participants!
Admin
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Hmm…Owlgirl…to answer your question…uh….
I think Poe is telling us that all of life is one big illusion—a dream within a dream. Reality doesn't really exist, or we have no way of knowing what is real and what is not.
I think that part of the poem is really really super duper deep, and very abstract, and makes me think of Einstein…
I still am having trouble getting my mind around it…I mean, I guess I could stop and think and peel it apart and come to understand it, but my brain is lazy?…..argh, its one of those things.my summary
The narrator kisses the listener in parting. He tells the listener that he agrees that his life has been a dream, but he suggests that everything "is but a dream within a dream." He stands on the shore of the ocean, holding grains of sand as he cries. He cannot keep the sand from running out of his hand, and he wonders if he cannot save even one grain from the waves.
I think the poem starts out with the narrator saying his last words/thougts to his loved one…they're parting…not dying parting, just saying goodbye. "Take this kiss upon the brow/And, in parting from you now…"
I also think the two parts of the poem depict different moods, the first part, thinking about the "dream"s, or memories the loving couple has shared together, and remembering happy times…The second part is a much different approach. The speaker is desperate and angry about parting, and woeful that time cannot be controlled.
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Wow, Hermione, I've read this poem lots of times, and I havent realized that yet! that the first part is about love, and parting….I never paid too much attention to that.
I think that Poe's trying to say that this world that we live in right now, is not really our reality. This is all just an illusion, we're not seeing things the way they are, they're not real. And he is depressed and longed for searching the real reality, escaping his life, that's only a dream. He knows that all the things that 'exist' in this world are also an illusion. He tried so hard to wake up, but he's stuck in unreal reality, and he's depressed about that.
Oh my gosh, I feel like I've woken up from along nap. This makes me so so so happy, how deep I'm diggin now!!!
I know the core meaning of this poem now. Before, I had just translated it…but now…omg omg!!!!You're right, Hermione, this is totally like Einstein's theory of relativity.
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Einstein and Poe should meet up. I bet they'd talk for hours about relativity and reality and life, and etc, etc.
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Oh, and here's the schedule:Edgar Allen Poe:1. Share the poem. (READ) CHECK!2. Word Wizard, look up our words. (DEFINE) CHECK!3. Discuss the poem, its meaning, its feeling, how we would have changed it, whatever you want to discuss about it! (DISCUSS) I will also give discussion questions.4. I give prompts, we discuss it and write our own poems. (WRITE)5. Discuss each other's poems, compare it, etc. (WRITE)A FEW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:What might you have done differently if you had written this poem?What effect does the rhyme have on the poem's content? Does it make it seem more or less serious?Is this poem about the nature of reality or the nature of loss? Can it be about both?-
If i had written this poem….well, I like it just the way it is, but if I HAD to change it, and make it my own…uh…idk!!!!
The rhyme, in this instance, I think, makes it more serious.
I'm not sure about the nature of loss….where does loss come into this poem? I'd say it's definitely the nature of reality, and the loss of time….wait, did I just say "loss"? Yes, I did! I DO think this poem is ALSO about the nature of loss. LOSS OF TIME!!!!
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uh… Buggy? Sydeny? Rose bud? Aubrey? Somebody? Hermione G?
Are Hermione A and I the only ones discussing this?
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And I quote from a line in the play "Our Town":
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it–every, every minute? No. The saints and poets, maybe they do some."
Wow! Thanks, Owlgirl, for reminding us of this great line.
Admin
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I am here! Lets see… first, I want to study the poem and see if I can find anything of interest.
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Have you ever been dreaming, or half-dreaming, or somewhat asleep, and you suddenly realize that you are dreaming, but you are still asleep? When you realize that, you wake up, and it feels so strange to wake up from a dream that you knew you were dreaming? I think that " A dream within a dream" is a complicated sequence of dreams and love. When the narrarator (Poe) says goodbye to love, it feels like it has all been a dream, and now he is parting from it, waking up, and since he had known he was dreaming, everything suddenly felt like a dream. At least, that is how I interpret this poem 🙂 This probably isn't true, but I like to think of where the insperation came from.
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@Rose bud
Ohmygosh, THANK you!!!!! Rose bud, that thinking is SO deep. You put into words EXACTLY what I thought, but that I didnt know how to explain.
I'm not sure Poe was thinking that exactly when he wrote this, but another thing we do when discussing poetry, besides interpreting what the poem meant to the poet, is we think about what it means to US. A really good poem can mean a lot of things.
That brings me to a good question: fellow poet fanatics, what does this poem mean to YOU?
@Sydney C:
I totally agree!
I agree when you say: "Like, now that it's all gone, it's like it never happened. That none of it matters anymore. And now he's in greater reality and doesn't want to be, because he liked the sort-of-but-it-turns-out-not-really-reality reality (as in, life..?). But now it's gone and won't be back."Arrgh, you people put into words what I didnt think could be put into words!!!!!!!!!
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ok Rose bud, i see that youre posting but i dont see you posts.
uh…Admin?…..
She might have to try reposting. Let us know if the problem continues. -Admins.
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Oh, ok I see them now.
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Sorry, my brother came into town, and I'm not allowed to be on the computer on Sundays.
HOLY CATS!! Poe is a really deep thinker, but I think you three actually understand his poem. I mean, that is some really deep stuff. Not many people realize that we are losing time, and getting older. They all think "Live in the moment." I think in Poe's poem it's trying to say, try to live all of your life. You only have it for so long. Because when you live in the moment you are bound to do reckless things you will regret later in life. Poe is trying to tell them, (thought he didn't live in this era) try to live the rest of your life. They are so many things to be cherished, while we have it. If you don't fully apcetiate life, now you will just let it slip through your fingers like a grain of sand. I think he knw that we might have this problem in the future, so he wrote this poem as if a plea to help teens rethink what they are doing with thier lives. A cry for help if you will. So yep, that's what I got from his poem.
Plus Owlgirl, your poem was mind blowing! Amazing!! I think if you put "Becuase when you are walking through this forest at midnight, AND the wind whispers in your ear."I think and might be more helpful instead of "when the."
Also, is it still to late to post our Robert Frost poems? I been thinking really long and hard, until inspration slapped me in the face. Yeah, I know we already started Poe, but is it too late?
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@Buggy
Of course it is not too late to post your Frost poem!!!!!! It will never be too late.
I'd love to see it. And thanks for your critique.
I think I partially agree when you say Poe is telling us to live life while we have it, or, Carpe Diem! (seize the day).But I think that idea only applies to the first part. Like Hermione said, the poem is divided into two moods: the first, what you described, and the second….sort of the opposite approach. Instead of hopeful, Poe is now desperate and depressed that time is falling away, and at this moment is dwelling too much on the future instead of the present.
I wonder what he decided on in the end.P.S. "Holy Cats"? you crack me up. I like that phrase.
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