Published in 1827, A Dream is an early poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem explores the contrast between painful waking reality and the comforting, calming nature of dreams. Born in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe is a renowned American writer, poet, and critic. He is celebrated as a central figure of Romanticism. His poem, A Dream, focuses on the solace of dreams.
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?