Monday, June 29, 2009

Figurative Language

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
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?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

This poem used some hyperbole, for example the word "O God!" and "a dream within a dream" , it is repeated a few times.
I like the above poem as it uses hyperbole to exaggerate the poet's emotions for example "O God!" and "a dream within a dream". The last word of each line also rhymes with the last word of the next line, take line 1, line 2, line 4 and line 5 as an example. In line 1 and line 2, the word brow rhymes with now. In line 4 and line 5, the word deem rhymes with dream. In some lines, the poet also wrote things in a form of asking a question for example line 10, line 19, line 21 and line 23. To conclude, I like this poem.

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