Maria writes:
"I found Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" to have a very musical quality. The Rhyme scheme is very overpowering when reading the poem. Though the scheme is common, it has a much more "sing-song" quality than do other poems written by Poe. I think that this is because of the very short lines, alternating between six and seven syllables. The rhyming words occur very close together and, when spoken outloud, it is difficult to hear a poem as opposed to a song being spoken."
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All good points, Maria, and if you were trying to show an audience why you get this feeling of musicality from the poem, you could assemble some "data" like this to prove your points:
-The first stanza rhymes AAABBCCDDBB. Three end rhymes in a row at the beginning (AAA) is a lot, and it does sound pretty repetitive and sing-songy. (That's why, you'll notice, it's a lot more common to do ABAB, and give listeners a little break in between the rhymes.) Plus, repeating the B rhymes twice in one stanza is a little claustrophobic.
The lines aren't exceptionally short--most are tetrameter, four-foot syllables (remember that we don't count syllables, we count stresses). That's one of the 2 standard line lengths in English. But Poe throws in, at completely irregular intervals, a three-foot line("I STAND/ aMID / the ROAR" or "o GOD/ can I/ not SAVE"). Those irregular lines really stand out.
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