Two Songs of Poe is based on two poems by Edgar Allan Poe: Bridal Ballad and A Dream within a Dream. Bridal Ballad was written in 1837 and depicts a woman struggling to convince herself that she is happy, though she has married a man she does not love. In her attempts to proclaim her happiness, her thoughts frequently turn to a lover who died “in the battle down the dell;” and, though her “golden token” should be representative her happiness, it continuously reminds her of what she has lost.

In each movement, though the music follows the drama of the text, the rhythms and phrase lengths intentionally go against the rhythmic structure presented by the text. This is done to represent the deteriorating mental stability of the speaker and her detachment from reality. 


A Dream within a Dream

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 flow 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?

Two Songs of Poe, II. A Dream Within A Dream

Bradley S. Green