Dream-Land Analysis

Let's deal with the rhyme scheme first, because it's pretty simple (well, mostly…). The basic idea here is that the lines of this poem make little rhymed pairs. The first line rhymes with the...

Doesn't this guy sound a lot like your Cure-listening, black-wearing, super-dramatic friend? You know, the one who can make a bad mood seem like the coolest thing in the world? Who reads old poetry...

Have you ever been on one of those amusement park haunted-house rides where you get pulled along in a little car and things jump out at you? OK, imagine the coolest possible version of that, and we...

Readers beware! We think this whole poem sounds like a hypnotist's spell. The rhythm of the lines – coming in short little pulses – rocks you back and forth. In a way, the rhyming makes...

The title is key in this poem. It sets our expectations for the whole thing, letting us know that this poem is going to describe, or at least relate to, a place called Dream-Land. What's more, Poe,...

In their heart of hearts, all of Poe's great poems are about the pain of losing someone. In a way, though, they are also about the intensity of grief, and how that feeling can almost become beautif...

Poe definitely throws in some tough words here, and it's pretty hard to tell what he's describing at some points. Still, we think that once you've got a general sense of what's going on, this shoul...

No sex here. Not a bit. Still, if this we're a movie, we probably wouldn't take the kids.

Ultima Thule (line 6): In ancient times, this referred to the most northern part of the world. Ultima means "farthest" in Latin. "Thule" was the name for an island in the North, maybe the place we...