Speaker
The main character in the poem is the speaker, someone who experiences intense longing for someone or something from an earlier time in her life. She often calls upon her memories and dreams in direct address, seeking to relive the experiences and feelings she once had.
Dreams
When the speaker calls out to her dreams in direct address ("O Dreams!"), she personifies the dreams as if they were themselves able to respond. Although this response never comes directly, her dreams do have some capacity for action, becoming sweeter with each iteration, and eventually replacing both memory and reality.
Memory
In “Echo,” memory receives a similar treatment as dreams. Through direct address, Rossetti’s speaker personifies memory and gives memory a certain capacity for action through repetition. Unlike dreams, however, memory becomes displaced, pushed aside for the more potent experience of dreaming.
