Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Poe was born on January 19,1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe is the second child of actress Elizabeth Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. In 1810,
Poe’s mother died of consumption and his father abandoned their family. He was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never adopted
him they raised him. He spend a short period (1year) at the University of Virginia and attempted a military career that paid $5 a month . In Baltimore in 1835, he
married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. Ten years later in January 1845, he published his poem 'The Raven' which was very successful.
The Literary Era where Edgar A. Poe did most of his writing was the The Romantic Era. This movement was a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual
movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century. The movement stressed strong emotion placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation and
horror.Edgar Allan Poe, based his writings on the supernatural and human psychology.Which he received praise and also criticism.
The poem I selected is:
A Dream
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?
Edgar Poe
My interpretation/ analysis of the poem “A Dream” is very difficult. I think the dreamer is miserable. Reasoning
being he is talking about how joy has departed him and how he wish he could turn back the past as he
dreamed. The literary I highlighted is end rhyme. The first stanza:
“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”
has rhyming of words at the end of more than two lines of poetry.
The influence of the era and the meaning of the poem is connected by emotion. During The Romantic Era most poets were
using strong emotions and different approaches to express themselves through poetry. Poe's poem 'A Dream' is a great example
because it uses mystery and some what of horror. Which was use in mainly in The Romantic Era. Poe's work is remember
hundreds of years after his death.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem