Citaten uit A Dream Within a Dream

7 beroemde regels uit A Dream Within a Dream (1849) van Edgar Allan Poe, woord voor woord, met bij elke regel de betekenis en herkomst.

1 min leestijd · 24 regels

1. 1

   Take this kiss upon the brow!

   Betekenis: The speaker offers a tender farewell kiss to someone he is leaving.

   NarratorStrofe 1, regel 1Kopiëren
2. 2

   You are not wrong, who deem
   That my days have been a dream;

   Betekenis: The speaker accepts that his life may have been as fleeting and unreal as a dream.

   NarratorStrofe 1, regels 4 tot en met 5Kopiëren
3. 3

   Yet if hope has flown away
   In a night, or in a day,
   In a vision, or in none,
   Is it therefore the less gone?

   Betekenis: The speaker argues that losing hope hurts regardless of when or how it disappeared.

   NarratorStrofe 1, regels 6 tot en met 9Kopiëren
4. 4

   All that we see or seem
   Is but a dream within a dream.

   Betekenis: Everything people experience or believe themselves to be may be an illusion within another illusion.

   NarratorStrofe 1, regels 10 tot en met 11Kopiëren

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5. 5

   And I hold within my hand
   Grains of the golden sand—
   How few! yet how they creep
   Through my fingers to the deep,

   Betekenis: Sand slipping through the speaker's fingers represents his inability to hold onto time and what he values.

   NarratorStrofe 2, regels 14 tot en met 17Kopiëren
6. 6

   O God! can I not save
   One from the pitiless wave?

   Betekenis: The speaker desperately asks whether he can preserve even one precious thing from inevitable loss.

   NarratorStrofe 2, regels 21 tot en met 22Kopiëren
7. 7

   Is all that we see or seem
   But a dream within a dream?

   Betekenis: The speaker ends by questioning whether any human experience is truly real or lasting.

   NarratorStrofe 2, regels 23 tot en met 24Kopiëren

Vragen over deze regels

What does the sand symbolize in Poe's A Dream Within a Dream?

The sand symbolizes passing time and precious experiences the speaker cannot preserve. Its escape into the sea makes his helplessness in the face of loss visible.

Why does A Dream Within a Dream end with a question?

The ending turns the first stanza's confident statement into uncertainty. After failing to keep the sand, the speaker questions whether reality itself can be trusted or anything can endure.