Three Designs

The poem I am choosing is "A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe. It has a lot of strong emotion, especially grief. In this first design, I tried to make it feel like you were in a dream. There are many elements coming out of the walls in many different directions. The back of the structure is put up against a hill so the people inside listening to the poem can see wonderful scenery around them. They will not be able to embrace it like Poe, who seemed to see the beauty around him, but could not get out of his own loss.

For my 2nd design I tried to focus on being confined in an area without being able to get free. Poe seemed to be trapped within his own grief. I tried to bring small amounts of lighting in from different directions to show the little amount of "light" in Poe's life. I wanted it to feel like we were in Poe's dream and we couldn't get out.








In my last design I wanted the people entering the structure to feel like they were coming into a dream. They could come in then go down to another level. On this other level I wanted to make it feel like being trapped in a prison. Like Poe who was trapped and surrounded by death. I made the spaces tiny and close to make the people inside feel uneasy. Then the people inside come to a great opening surrounded by vertical columns that make it feel like being trapped in a prison. They would be able to see wonderful landscapes from that view, but the "bars" prevent that from happening. They can only see a small amount. Poe seemed to want to break free and get out of this "dream" , but he was unable to.

Poems

The Road Not Taken by: Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood,and I-
I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

I chose this poem because I believe it to be about something everyone has to deal with, choices. We all have important decisions to make everyday. Those choices define who we are. I usually don't read a lot of poetry, but this seemed to be about something I can easily relate to.

I think this poem relates to choices in life. We are always presented with decisions. We can either choose the path everyone else takes, or we can take the "one less traveled" and make our own path. In the fourth line, the author refers to us looking at the consequences beyond our choices for each path. Parts of the poem also could be about us looking back at previous choices and wondering if we made the right decisions.

A Dream within a Dream by: Edgar Allan Poe

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?

I chose this poem because of the emotion the author is showing. The words he chose express passion. I am able to sense the grief the author feels through his words. The poem is easy to read and the words flow well together. It also seemed to be very personal.

I believe this poem is about the author's loss of someone he loved. It seems that he wanted this life to be a dream so he could maybe wake up and be next to the one he loved. I think when he says "surf-tormented shore", he might be referring to himself being surrounded by death or sadness. He also seemed to feel like he could not save anyone from "the pitiless wave", which I believe meant death. He seemed very sad and lost within all the grief he had to deal with.