Question

Does the poem, "A Dream Within a Dream," by Edgar Allan Poe contain anastrophe, metonymy, synechdoche, or hyperbole?

Answer 1

I'll vote for the presence of anastrophe in order to enhance the overall hyperbole.

Explanation:

Here's the text of the poem:

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?

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52829/a-dream-within-a-dream

Do we have:

• anastrophe?

This is where nouns and adjectives swap places so as to add impact. And yes, there is. "Surf-tormented shore". "Golden sand". "Pitiless wave".

• metonymy?

This is where we substitute in a word for something with another word with which it's closely related (for example, saying an announcement is coming from Buckingham Palace instead of from a representative of Queen Elizabeth). In this case, I don't think it's in the Poe poem.

• synecdoche?

This is where we use a part of a whole to refer to the whole (for example, saying "get your feet moving" is actually referring to you getting ready and doing what you need to do). I don't think I see any in this poem.

• hyperbole?

This is the classic overstatement (for example "I can't eat another bite" means you are very full). Is the entire poem hyperbole? The first stanza is, I think, referring to a realization that nothing is real - it's the crashing down of hope in the face of reality being found to be not real. And the second stanza goes on to talk about how he can't even keep a grain of sand safe - it will drop back into the ocean - again, the reality of something so simple as trying to hold onto something and not being able to (that safety and security is an illusion).

http://literary-devices.com/

And so I'll vote for the presence of anastrophe in order to enhance the overall hyperbole.