Spooky Poem, Anyone?
I’ve always enjoyed learning and being in that kind of environment. Generally, it is comforting to be in a classroom where I know that many of us have similar goals we want to achieve. It is insane to think about all the different circumstances we come from, but how we end up in the same place with similar or closely related dreams. Dreams are usually associated with those mini-movies that occur in our minds when we fall asleep, which further insinuates that dreams are unrealistic concepts to obtain. Nonetheless, in our conscious states, we are taught from primary school to have goals and dreams to aspire to reach. People keep their dreams at the forefront of their minds to keep themselves motivated and to find purpose!
Since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be an educator. Why? My simple answer is that I enjoy learning and know learning is a continuous experience as an educator. My deeper answer would be that as someone who had/has dreams, I want to be able to instill the importance of having goals; big or small! It can be as simple as wanting to own a dog one day or as large as getting into the career of your choice. Accomplishing something you originally identified as a dream makes it all the more gratifying because the original association of dreams is made to seem unrealistic (living in our minds). The combination of the unconscious and conscious ideas of dreams creates a meaning that insinuates that dreams are obtainable and real, but come with their obstacles during the journey toward reaching them, which I believe to be a realistic view.
Edgar Allan Poe is an author I’ve read in school and outside of school. He has mastered the art of having his readers feel spooked, for lack of a better word. One of his talents is being able to write about the real and the unreal; ultimately, the uncanny. Before I discuss one of his poems, I want to note that literature and its underlying meanings can be perceived in many different ways; this is just my own perception. In his poem “A Dream Within a Dream,” I think that Edgar is trying to say that there are so many aspects in life that we cannot control, so how can it be a dream life when we are not able to control every aspect of it? Especially in the line, “Grains of the golden sand / How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep — while I weep!” (lines 15-18). He creates an image of something inevitably falling through the cracks. At the end of the poem, he says, “Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?” (lines 23-24). Essentially, I read this as Poe making readers rethink the reality of life itself. If dreams are so vivid, does that mean our so-called “real” world is a part of someone's dream when they go to bed at night? Something very unsettling to think about, but definitely the effect Edgar Allan Poe has on his audience!
Still, I firmly believe that we construct our own idea of our individual lives that are very real, and we must take advantage of the things we can control to ensure our happiness! We have very real, felt emotions of sorrow, pain, and excitement. If life were an unconscious experience, we wouldn’t feel any of that… thoughts anyone? I’d love to hear others’ perspectives! Anywho, I hope everyone has a spectacular spooky season as it is coming to its end!