Project Poem - Study Models

Each design illustrates an idea of isolation. In Poe's poem "A Dream within a Dream," he feels lonely and cut off from the rest of the world. His poem contains anger, frustration, disappointment, unfulfilled desire, bitterness and resignation. These designs are meant to manipulate the person reading this poem into feeling and thinking the way Poe is reflecting himself and his state of mind. The designs may be confusing to some, but they are meant to be that way. In the poem, Poe is confused about what to do with his life. He is uncertain of if this life is just a dream, or perhaps that the hope of happiness is in fact a dream within a dream; hope is the dream within the dream of life. Both subjects are dreams, and all Poe can see upon waking is an end to both; oblivion. The reader may also be disappointed and be struck with unfulfilled desire for wanting to be sheltered from the elements while reading. As the designs show, there is not much shelter against rain or wind, and the bitter cold would definitely be the worst factor. This reflects to how Poe feels about being disappointed with the loss of everything dear to him, and the lost desire to search for hope.

Project Poem - Sketch Concepts

Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

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.

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" depicts an image of a solitary traveler who has come to a fork in the road during his journey and must make a decision on which way to proceed. I chose this piece to present for Design Studio primarily because my interpretation seems to go right along with the story.

While many interpretations can be made from this poem, I believe this piece is about the difficulty of making choices. The main proof of this is that the speaker in the poem actually states his or her desire to travel the two roads, but they cannot do so. A speaker taking the independent route and going against mainstream ideology would not long to travel the road "more" taken, if there truly was a discernible difference between the two roads.

Further proof that the poem is about the difficulty of choosing comes from the indecision emanating from line 13 in which the speaker states that they kept the first road for another day. It can be argued that a speaker who proudly chose the road less traveled would not long to explore the other road later in their life.

Poe's "A Dream within a Dream"

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting with 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 save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

"A Dream within a Dream" was one of a number of poems completed by Edgar Allan Poe in the last year of his life. This poem was a product of the last burst of inspiration that came before his final, desperate spiral towards a mysterious death. It speaks of loss, anger, frustration, disappointment and unfulfilled desire. It also speaks of bitterness and resignation: Poe was resigned "to the moaning of the groaning of the bells."

Originally, I chose this poem to work with because I could simply understand it slightly more than the others that were on the list from Design Studio. But after putting more thought into it, I realized the poem struck a nerve. In this story, Poe seems to be struggling to find resolution and a purpose in life, a quest that many people (myself included) stumble upon at some point in their lives.

"A Dream within a Dream" was partially an amalgam of earlier fragments and ideas; yet in its final form, the poem retains a completeness that perfectly reflects Poe's ultimate state of mind. The poem, written in two stanzas, can read almost as an epitaph.

When Poe speaks of the "grains of golden sand," he may possibly be comparing them to opportunities of life that fritter away. Poe weeps with frustration over life's irony and may also be weeping for his dead wife. There is a cry for clarity and meaning when he shouts out to God. Poe wants meaning but can only feel hopelessness. The last two lines of the poem presents Poe's final question: Is there nothing real or meaningful? There must be meaning in life; yet all he can see is despair, and he has given up looking.