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?

1. How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

The poet exaggerated the fact that he is having a dream about someone and to show the poet's emotions by repeating the use of the word "dream" in the poem which is a form of hyperbole. In the poem personification is used on the words "hope" and "wave". The poet described hope as a bird that has flown away from him and "pitiless" on the word "wave" to describe it as if it was a person with emotions. The poet used symbolism on the words " grains of the golden sand" to show that the grains of sand in his hand symbolises his hope. In the sentence:
"Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!"
the poet shows that he has lost all hope by saying that the grains of golden sand has crept through his fingers. This also shows his unhappy emotions to the reader of the poem.

I like this poem because of the description of emotions by the poet and the way he uses figurative language to make the person who reads the poem feel that it is very real and emotional. Although the poem appeared to be very real when I read it, the last line in each part of the poem turned out to tell readers that the whole poem was actually talking about a dream . I also like the part of the poem when the poet used symbolism to show that hope was like a bird that flew away from him and that the waves were like people.