Monday Poetry: El Dorado

Edgar Allen Poe wrote his wonderful poem "El Dorado" toward the end of his life.  El Dorado was the name for the fabled City of Gold that was somewhere in the New World.

Some interpret the poem as a despairing one, saying that the quest ends only in death.  Others look at it as more hopeful, pointing to the real City of Gold to be the City of God in heaven.

You decide.

El Dorado

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!"^[4]