The "golden grains of sand" in Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" represent...
Group of answer choices

potential opportunities in the speaker's life

opportunities that are slipping through the speaker's fingers

the passage of time that the speaker cannot control

the innumerable problems the speaker is facing

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Question 210 pts
The themes of Edgar Allan Poe's writing generally focus on subjects that are light-hearted and playful, like romance, happiness, and optimism.
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True

False

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Question 310 pts
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?

In this poem, the first stanza ends with a statement and the second stanza ends with a question. Why?
Group of answer choices

the progression from a statement to a question represents the speaker's certainty that life is, in fact, a dream

the progression from a statement to a question proves how old age can cause confusion

the progression from a statement to a question suggests that the speaker changes his mind to be more optimisitc

the progression from a statement to a question demonstrates how the speaker is less certain about the meaning of life

In stanza 2, the speaker talks about the "surf-tormented shore" and the "pitiless wave." What important metaphor from the poem do these lines help to explain?
Group of answer choices

the speaker's sadness over how he cannot stop time from passing

the speaker's relief at being freed from an unhappy relationship

the speaker's fear that his dreams are all washed away

the speaker's anger at his lover for leaving him

The main theme of Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" could be summed up as...
Group of answer choices

searching for new love after heartbreak

questioning the nature of reality vs illusion

marveling in the power and beauty of nature

investigating the existence of God