A Dream, by Edgar Allen Poe

All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream. -Edgar Allen Poe

In this poem, Poe explained how the reality of life is more painful than his past. He would rather dream, and avoid reality because of how the abrasive effects of reality have beaten and shaped him.

The speaker’s tone, or attitude, is one of acceptance, acknowledging that he, but also everyone else, lives in dreams, but that dreams can keep one’s hope alive.