Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream

Summary

This piece explores the dichotomy between dreams and reality, highlighting the painful realization of joy that once was but is no longer present. Through vivid imagery, it contrasts the ephemeral beauty of dreams with the harshness of waking life, emphasizing a sense of yearning and loss. The speaker reflects on a transformative dream that, despite the world's disapproval, offers guidance and solace, likened to a beam of light for a solitary spirit. Even as challenges arise, the dream stands as a beacon of purity and truth. The work is a meditation on the power of dreams to inspire and sustain hope, even in the face of adversity and the passage of time.

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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, thro’ storm and night,
So trembled from afar—
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth’s day-star?

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