Good afternoon Mrs. Black, Poetry is a powerful form of expressionism; it has the ability to elicit emotional responses from its readers. The structural diversity and free style of this art form means that a poem can generate multiple interpretations, and as such, poetry resonates with readers often in highly personal and individual ways. Poetry; “A Dream with in a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe concerns us all as it deals with existentialism and the nature of human life. The poem displays a somber tone, beginning with the narrator saying goodbye to a loved one; it is this gesture that sends him into the center of an existential crisis. In the absence of her lover; he struggles to remember the details of their relationship. The narrator begins to question the very nature of his reality. He goes to the extent of describing existence as a dream assuming that their relationship was nothing more than 'A dream within a dream'. The second verse captures the audience because there is a sudden change of scenery; the narrator finds himself on a "wave-torn shore" which metaphorically describes his internal struggle over the loss of a loved one and his inability to cope. He is struggling to grip the sand in his palms. Sand is the symbol of time; watches helplessly as the falling grains of sand are swept away by the "merciless waves"; He realizes that time is transitory and that his past is nothing more than a distant memory. The poem is composed of rhyming couplets and triplets; rhyming with words like "front, now and confess". The varied meter of this poem is somewhat confusing; the most predominant is iambic trimeter, a perfect example; “How few! Yet how they crawl. Edgar Allan Poe uses rhetoric to highlight his anger towards life; the narrative... at the center of the paper... the reader's empathy for the woman's struggle. I think we can all empathize with this poem as it highlights the struggles faced between our inner and outer selves; we must all come to terms with the fact that our youth is fleeting and we must make the most of this time in our lives, however, we must not worry about our appearances because with time these will fade and we must be happy with who we are inside to truly be happy in life. The way we see ourselves will never coincide with other people's perceptions; like mirrors, our whole life and everything we see is a reflection of our personal prejudices. True poetry is a vehicle for personal growth and reflection; it is a timeless form of human expression that encapsulates the emotions of the writer; serving as a catalyst for deeper thinking in a generation preoccupied with audio and visual stimuli.