Wednesdays Poetry Watch #1

This is a new feature I’ll be posting once a week, and in each post I’ll feature a different poet or poem that I really love. I’ll share a few facts about the poet and recommend an additional poem(s) that you may enjoy as well. Poetry has always been a HUGE passion of mine whether it’s writing it, reading it, or discussing it. And I’m really looking excited to share some of the mad love I have for it with all of you lovelies! 

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So this week to kick of my new feature, who better to start with than the brilliant Edgar Allan Poe himself?! Anyone who knows me well enough is perfectly aware of how much I love this particular poet/author, so it’s only fitting to start off with him. 

A few facts for you: “Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother died shortly after his father abandoned their family, and he was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never formally adopted him. He attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. After enlisting in the Army and later failing as an officer's cadet at West Point, Poe parted ways with the Allans. His publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian".

Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm. In January, 1845 Poe published his poem, "The Raven", to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.” ~Via Wikipedia

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One of my favorite poems of all time would have to be “A Dream Within A Dream” now I’m sure some of you have read it, but I’m sure there are some of you that haven’t. If you are one of those poor unfortunate souls who haven’t read it, take a few minutes to delve into this masterpiece. 

(Lol couldn't resist :p)

"A Dream Within A Dream" 

“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?” 

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The main thing this poem always puts me in mind of, is how in life there are things that will change and no matter how much we may not want them to, and there isn’t anything that can be done to stop it. And I’m sure all of us at some point have had the same or similar thoughts about certain things that have happened in our lives. 

Also on another note, I have decided that I WILL visit Poe’s grave site in Baltimore one day just to say that I’ve been lol. Now if you’re interested in more of Poe’s work a few that I recommend are: “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, and "The Masque of the Red Death" (a short story). 

So are any of you lovelies fans of Poe? Do you have any favorite poems or stories? 

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."