"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope one day you'll join us and the world will live as one." John Lennon's "Imagine" went far beyond the confines of its time to embrace the feelings of an ageless audience. Lennon invites his listeners to imagine a society in which people do not anticipate the beauty and splendor of a paradise, but rather attempt to create this environment on earth. Man-made barriers no longer exist and life is a general "human brotherhood" in which people have a mutual respect for the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of others. Humanity has long suffered the conflict of reality and dreamed of a utopian society, similar to Lennon's vision. This civilization would ideally be free of pain, need, and desperation, all aspects of the common human condition. Inevitably the daydream ends, the flower withers and the love is lost forever. Artists and poets are not exempt from this breed of optimists who see their dreams erased by the cruelty of reality. Through many of his poems, Edgar Allen Poe struggles to find a compromise between the caustic world of reality and the fantastic images of dream life. His catalog of poems regarding this topic and the discernment between the two worlds is unified by progressive themes and titles. His poem "Dreams" focuses on the happiness and innocence that dreams have given the speaker. Referencing the concept of lost childhood innocence, "A Dream" proclaims that daydreams are the reflection of youthful aspirations never achieved. Finally regressing to a pessimistic and jaded perspective, “A Dream Within a Dream” asserts that all dreams are futile and delusional. Throughout the progression of these works, Poe's speaker reveals his sense of insignificance in a world enraptured by his own futile and superficial efforts. He dreams of an unattainable fantasy world, far better than any reality he could foresee. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In childhood, every aspect of life has a sense of purity and innocence that permeates these memories. Children find time to be content with simply living and daydreaming. The speaker in “Dreams” invokes his memories of the past, desperately wanting them to last beyond reverie and develop into reality. He feels that a dream of “hopeless pain” is far better than the “cold reality of waking life” because a dream is temporary and ever-changing (ln 4-6). A dream possesses the ability to conform to any expectation, regardless of physical barriers. Alas, the reality is truthful and inescapable. There are expectations and demands of the external world that govern man's every movement and thought. Within a dream world, man is the master of his own reactions, never judged or expected to act conventionally. Dreams have no conformity because individuals, outside the rules of society, create them. As a boy, the speaker saw his future as a promising and welcoming adventure. He "delighted...in the summer sky, in dreams of living light/and beauty," where the beauty of nature embodied his hopes and dreams (ln 13-15). As inevitable as the setting of the sun and the changing of the seasons, the boy must become manly, abandoning his imagination and his charm. Reality attacks innocence in his most vulnerable moment, leaving “its image on [his] spirit,” leaving him a tired and caustic man (ln 22-23). Although he found pleasure during his childhood, this world of perfection and happiness can only be revisited in dreams. Therecapitalization of Heaven, Hope and Love exemplifies the reverence and value placed on such entities. These aspects of dreams are everything that gives life purpose. The speaker argues that reality embodies all that is bad in the world while dreams possess the unique ability to perpetuate hope. Adolescence is traditionally a period of evaluating morals and goals. It is the moment of transition from a life of unconditional acceptance to critical analysis. The speaker of "A Dream" tends to believe that dreams can offer a glimpse of inner peace that can never be achieved. Every morning man is destined to wake up from the dream of "dead joy" to fall victim to a daily regime (ln 2). Inevitably, he "turns to the past" to revisit his childhood, in which life held this inexplicable wonder (ln 8). He is bombarded with memories of his goals and hopes as a child. During this stage of adolescence (a period of awakening), the past, once thought to be pure, has a shadow of pessimism cast over it. People begin to realize that the dreams of the past, while beautiful and idealistic, are impossible. Each night, the speaker retreats into his sleep to revisit the days when these dreams were conceivable, only to awaken too abruptly and "heartbroken" (ln 4). The dream is unfinished and unrealized. The speaker finds himself desperately wanting to make these dreams his reality. The hope that motivated his every action appears to be fruitless and does not lead to any final state of fulfillment. While he feels alone in all his endeavors, this hope serves as a "lonely spirit" that guides him through difficulties (ln 12). He desperately clings to concepts that try to give him purpose in life. Dreaming, although inevitably interrupted by prolonged periods of reality, provides humanity with an idealistic hope for the future. Childhood and adolescence are simply paths that lead to adulthood and wisdom. Adulthood embodies many aspects of maturity obligations, disbelief, and cynicism. Imagination and hope stand little chance against such formidable foes. According to “A Dream Within a Dream,” regardless of the exact moment and circumstances along the way, once hope is lost, it can never be regained. Man is simply a shadow of his former dreamless existence because he has lost the reason to continue moving forward. His efforts to change society seem ineffective in a world that has no purpose or place for him. Standing “amid the roar of a wave-torn shore,” the speaker embodies a sense of helplessness and futility further perpetuated by images of groping in the sand in an hourglass (ln 13). In this adult stage, he realizes his smallness in the infinitely large universe and is petrified of such a concept. Throughout his life, both in childhood and adolescence, the speaker fondly remembers his goals as a boy. Only at this stage does he fully understand the fact that opportunities and time pass so quickly. Unable to keep a moment of his life intact, the speaker claims that life is nothing more than a "dream within a dream," an ephemeral image that is nothing more than a desire (ln 24). Dreams don't last forever; therefore, the fact that life is a dream compacted to the extent that it is inserted into another dream only intensifies its brevity. The final line of the poem questions existence, encompassing reality, dreams, and God. Without a predestined and distinctive purpose for his existence, the speaker contemplates his relevance to a world that could exist without him. It needs tangible evidence of faith-based concepts. Lack of any knowledge of."