It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that our current reality may be perceived as merely a dream in a future life or existence.
Edgar Allan Poe's quote reflects on the nature of existence and consciousness. It proposes that what we perceive as reality in the present may be viewed as an illusion or 'dream' when compared to a higher state of being or future existence. This philosophical perspective invites contemplation on the transient nature of life and the deeper meanings that might exist beyond our immediate perception.
In practice
This quote can be used in a philosophical debate about the nature of reality.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory That blushed and bloomed, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.
Most writers - poets in especial - prefer having it understood that they compose by a species of fine frenzy - an ecstatic intuition - and would positively shudder at letting the public take a peep behind the scenes.
...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair.
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me?
In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.
[P]erhaps you notice how the denial is so often the preface to the justification.
My days β the blossom of my youth and the flower of my manhood β have been darkened by the dreariness of servitude. In this my native land β in the land of my sires β I am degraded without fault as an alien and an outcast.
He who can be, and therefore is, another's, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.
To whatever degree he may have desacralized the world, the man who has made his choice in favor of a profane life never succeeds in completely doing away with religious behavior.
I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.
And therefore in geometry (which is the only science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow on mankind), men begin at settling the significations of their words; which settling of significations, they call definitions, and place them in the beginning of their reckoning.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.