A Dream Within a Dream (poem)

A Dream Within a Dream is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. In the poem, Poe is talking about how life is often a dream and that it passes you by quickly. He feels frustrated because he can’t reach out and grab the moments he has in life. So he talks about how time is like the ocean and how quickly it moves away from him. He wishes he could grab on to it, so he could stay in the present moment, but it drifts away. He also talks about how unreal life can seem sometimes and how hard it is to keep hold of the moments he does have. He wants to embrace them and to keep them from slipping away in the same way that you can’t actually keep hold of a dream once you wake up. The poem ends on a sad note, as Poe talks about how life passes by so quickly and that you never fully get to enjoy it as it slips away.