A Dream - Edgar Allan Poe
In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed,
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream, that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, through storm and night,
So trembled from afar,
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?
I have dreamed of joy departed,
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream, that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, through storm and night,
So trembled from afar,
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?
... Happy. My interpretation of Poe's "A Dream" is that he has a dream of grasping happiness and that right when he is about to find happiness, it isn't there, at least in the first stanza. As the poem goes on, he talks about a light that could potentially be a passion or someone of his past and he then discovers that that is what can bring him happiness. Almost like a moment of clarity that he realizes that what he has let go of in the past, is really what can make him happy in the present.
Poe really grasped my emotion in the poem and that is all that empathy is about. Not only did he accomplish getting the reader to feel empathy, but his poem is also about someone who people would probably be very empathetic towards and clearly is depressed. Edgar talks about this person trying to find a light, or something to bring him back to happiness and truthfully, everyone has felt that way before. When he refers to "day-star", it feels to me that he is talking about the sun; a beautiful light that guides us and brings joy every single day, and that without this holy dream, his sun is gone. He doesn't feel any happiness... [I like this selection, and your reflection is good. Can you link your thoughts to some of the previous sources, especially the myth source?]
Poe really grasped my emotion in the poem and that is all that empathy is about. Not only did he accomplish getting the reader to feel empathy, but his poem is also about someone who people would probably be very empathetic towards and clearly is depressed. Edgar talks about this person trying to find a light, or something to bring him back to happiness and truthfully, everyone has felt that way before. When he refers to "day-star", it feels to me that he is talking about the sun; a beautiful light that guides us and brings joy every single day, and that without this holy dream, his sun is gone. He doesn't feel any happiness... [I like this selection, and your reflection is good. Can you link your thoughts to some of the previous sources, especially the myth source?]
