Edgar Allen Poe – Eldorado

Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe. Music and read by Julian Greigh

Poe uses the term shadow in the middle of each stanza. The meaning of the word, however, changes with each use.

First, it is a literal shadow, where the sun is blocked out. In the second, it implies gloom or despair. The third use is a ghost. The final use, “the Valley of Shadow,” references the “Valley of the Shadow of Death,” possibly suggesting that Eldorado (or riches in general) does not exist in the living world.

 

Eldorado

By Edgar Allan Poe
Gaily bedight,
   A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
   Had journeyed long,
   Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
   But he grew old—
   This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
   Fell as he found
   No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
   And, as his strength
   Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
   ‘Shadow,’ said he,
   ‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’
   ‘Over the Mountains
   Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
   Ride, boldly ride,’
   The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’