"You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope one day you will join us and the world will live as one.” John Lennon's "Imagine" transcended the boundaries of its era 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 that environment on earth. Artificial barriers no longer exist and life is a general "human brotherhood" in which people have mutual respect for each other's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Humanity has long suffered from the conflict of reality and dreamed of a utopian society, similar to Lennon's vision. Ideally, this civilization would be free of pain, want, and despair – all aspects of the common human condition. Inevitably, the reverie ends, the flower withers, and love is lost forever. Artists and poets do not escape this race of optimists whose dreams are destroyed 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 concerning this subject and discernment between the two worlds is unified by their progressive themes and titles. His poem “Dreams” focuses on the happiness and innocence that dreams brought to the speaker. Relating to the concept of lost childhood innocence, “A Dream” proclaims that daydreams are reflections of youthful aspirations never realized. Ultimately regressing to a pessimistic and jaded perspective, “A Dream Within a Dream” asserts that all dreams are futile and illusory. 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 can foresee. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not 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 just live and dream. The speaker throughout "Dreams" invokes his memories of the past, desperately wanting them to last beyond daydreaming and transform into reality. He feels that a dream of “desperate sorrow” is much 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 all expectations, regardless of physical barriers. Alas, the reality is true and unavoidable. There are expectations and demands from the outside world that govern man's every movement and thought. In a dream world, man is the master of his own reactions, without ever being judged or expected to act in a conventional way. Dreams have no conformity because individuals, outside the rules of society, create them. As a child, the speaker saw his future as a promising and welcoming adventure. He “delighted…in the summer sky, in dreams of living light/and beauty,” in which the beauty of nature embodied his hopes and dreams (ln 13-15). As inevitable as the sunset and the changing of the seasons, the boy must grow into adulthood, abandoning his imagination and fascination. Reality attacked innocence at his most vulnerable hour, leaving “behind its image on [his] mind,” making him a jaded and caustic man (ln 22-23). Although he found pleasure during his childhood, this world ofperfection and happiness can only be revisited in dreams. The capital letter of Heaven, Hope and Love illustrates the respect and value given to such entities. These aspects of dreams are all that give life purpose. The speaker asserts that reality embodies everything that is bad in the world while dreams possess the unique ability to perpetuate hope. Adolescence is traditionally a periodassessing morals and goals. It is the transition period from a life of unconditional acceptance to critical analysis. The speaker of "A Dream" tends to believe that dreams can offer a glimpse of an inner peace that can never be achieved. Every morning, man is destined to wake up from his dream of “vanishing joy” to become the victim of a daily regime (ln 2). Inevitably, he “turns back to the past” to relive his childhood, where life had this inexplicable wonder in store for him (ln 8). He is bombarded with memories of his childhood goals and hopes. During this period of adolescence (period of awakening), the past once considered pure is covered with a shadow of pessimism. People are beginning to realize that the dreams of the past, although beautiful and idealistic, are impossible. Each night, the speaker retreats into his sleep to revisit the days when these dreams were conceivable, only to wake up too abruptly and "heartbroken" (ln 4). The dream is unfinished and unfulfilled. The speaker finds himself desperately wanting to make these dreams his reality. The hope that motivated his every action seems fruitless, leading to no state of ultimate contentment. Even though he feels alone in all his endeavors, this hope serves as a “solitary spirit” that guides him through difficulties (ln 12). He clings desperately to concepts that strive to give him a purpose in life. The dream, although inevitably interrupted by prolonged periods of reality, offers humanity an idealistic hope for the future. Childhood and adolescence are just 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 enemies. According to “A Dream Within a Dream,” regardless of the exact moment and circumstances of the path, once hope is lost, it can never be regained. Man is only a shadow of his previous dreamless existence because he has lost the reason to continue. 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-tossed shore,” the speaker embodies a sense of helplessness and futility further perpetuated by images of groping for sand in an hourglass (ln 13). At this adult stage, he realizes his smallness within the infinitely large universe and is petrified by such a concept. Throughout his life, both in childhood and adolescence, the speaker fondly remembers his goals as a young boy. Only at this point does he fully understand the fact that opportunities and time pass so quickly. Unable to preserve a moment of his life intact, the speaker claims that life is only a “dream within a dream,” an ephemeral image that is only a wish (ln 24). Dreams don't last forever; therefore, the fact that life is a compacted dream to the extent that it fits into another dream only intensifies its brevity. The last 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. He needs tangible evidence of faith-based concepts. Not being aware of the.."