The setting is near a waterfront of sorts, also there is a woman there, the author is tormented, while questioning himself whether the scene is real or not. Poe is taking this idea of a beautiful vision and turning it into a nightmare of sorts, so the narrator is unsure of reality. The author is agreeing that life has been a dream. Because, the man is standing on the shore holding grains of sand as he cries. He cannot keep the sand from running out of his hand and he wonders if he can even save one grain of sand from the surf. “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins”(Edgar Allan Poe)?The imagery is the surf, a tormented shore, and the pitiless waves. The tone is of despair and torment. The structure is a iambic trimeter, metrically messy and has other shakeups(Shmoop.com). The sound devices used in this piece are many, for they are common in Poe’s many works. The sound device of Rhyming, which is commonly found in many poems, occurs almost every line and on occasion three sentences in a row will rhyme. Also present in this piece is Assonance, which is observed in lines 10, 11, 23 and 24. Besides sound devices, there are also many sense devices used as well. Hence illusion, for the man is unsure if he dreams, sometimes he thinks it is one
The setting is near a waterfront of sorts, also there is a woman there, the author is tormented, while questioning himself whether the scene is real or not. Poe is taking this idea of a beautiful vision and turning it into a nightmare of sorts, so the narrator is unsure of reality. The author is agreeing that life has been a dream. Because, the man is standing on the shore holding grains of sand as he cries. He cannot keep the sand from running out of his hand and he wonders if he can even save one grain of sand from the surf. “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins”(Edgar Allan Poe)?The imagery is the surf, a tormented shore, and the pitiless waves. The tone is of despair and torment. The structure is a iambic trimeter, metrically messy and has other shakeups(Shmoop.com). The sound devices used in this piece are many, for they are common in Poe’s many works. The sound device of Rhyming, which is commonly found in many poems, occurs almost every line and on occasion three sentences in a row will rhyme. Also present in this piece is Assonance, which is observed in lines 10, 11, 23 and 24. Besides sound devices, there are also many sense devices used as well. Hence illusion, for the man is unsure if he dreams, sometimes he thinks it is one