ELDORADO
by Edgar Allan Poe
(1849)
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew oldThis knight so boldAnd 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 beThis 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!"
An Overview of "Eldorado"
Although this poem refers to the Spanish legend of
the city of Eldorado,
it is universal in its theme. In this poem, a knight
spends all his life
searching for the often sought after city of Eldorado.
He spends so much of his
life looking for it that he becomes an old man still
riding and searching for
the city. In the end he meets a shade or ghostly
figure who directs him to ride
towards death, the Valley of Shadow, to complete his
search. This implies that
the knight dies still searching for Eldorado.
There are several meanings for this poem which
allows for personal
connection and interpretation. One theme of the poem
is that a dream should be
pursued no matter how long it takes to accomplish it.
Another is that the
actual search for something is the reward in itself;
it's a journey not a
destination. Yet a third is that one should not give
up on a dream even if it
is as lofty as searching for the city of gold. A more
negative belief of the
poem is that the knight has wasted his entire life
searching for something, all
the while missing what his life has already offered
him. What the reader brings
to the poem affects the meaning that is gleaned from
its reading.
An explanation of the quest for Eldorado may be
necessary before reading
this poem. Some facts to use in the explanation are:
* Everything was to be made of gold, even the
cooking utensils.
* Explorers believed that the city was located
somewhere in the forests of
the Amazon. These men never returned.
* Sir Walter Raleigh died as a result of his quest
for Eldorado. After
his second expedition failed in 1618, the queen had him
executed.
Pre-Reading Activities
Before reading the poem, students should complete
some of the following
activities so that they have a personal basis to build
upon as they read. They
should also, as with all poetry, become familiar with
the vocabulary used in the
poem. Below are discussion topics, a written activity,
and vocabulary to help
with this. Discussion topics may be written as well,
depending upon the
students. Choose the activity that best relate to your
students.
Discussion topic 1
1. Ask students, "What are four things do you most
want from life?" Give them
time to think about these wants. Allow them to list
everything that comes to
mind first. Then, eliminate items until the list is
only the four most
important things.
2. Discuss the things on the list. Why are they
wanted? What will they provide
in life? Why were other choices eliminated?
3. Place these things in order of importance from most
important to least.
4. Have students explain what steps they must take to
gain each of their wants.
Discussion topic 2
1. Discuss with students things they have tried to
accomplish but failed. How
did they feel after their failure?
2. What could they have done to have succeeded in
these tasks? Were some of
the goals too lofty to be achieved? For example, if a
goal was to become the
starting quarterback of the team but the child never
played on an organized
football team, the goal should be lessened into making
the team. Then, the next
step to achieving the goal would be to make the
starting lineup.
Vocabulary
Define each word and use it in a sentence.
think of synonyms that can be
used for the words as well.
gaily (adj)
gallant (adj)
bold (adj)
Activity 1
Try to
1. Create a K-W-L chart for the quest for Eldorado.
Fold a piece of paper into
three columns. Label one column "What I Know," one
column "What I Want to
Know," and the last column "What I Learned."
2. Have students list facts they know about Eldorado
in the first column.
3. Have students write questions they have about
Eldorado in the second column.
4. Assist students in finding answers to their
questions. Research
encyclopedias, the internet, or other resources. Place
these answers in the
third column.
During Reading Activities
While reading the poem it is important that
students stop to think about
what it is that they are reading. First, read the poem
in its entirety. It is
important that poetry is read out loud rather than
silently. Then, at the
second and third readings, choose from the activities
below to further engage
students and to help build their understanding of the
poem.
Activity 1
1. Read the poem once, and then reread the poem. As
the students reread, have
them make a list of how they relate to the poem.
2. On one paper list how they relate to the knight
personally.
3. On a second paper list how their world and
community can relate to the
knight's world and his goals.
4. On a third paper list how the students can relate
this poem to other pieces
of literature that they have read.
Activity 2
1. Identify the imagery in the poem. Where is each
sense seen? List words or
phrases that relate to the senses of sight, sound,
touch, smell, and taste.
Activity 3
Label the poetic form of the poem. To do this:
1. Label the rhyme scheme of the poem. Look at the
ending sound of each line.
The first line is labeled A. Any line thereafter that
ends in the same sound
also gets an A. If the line sounds differently it
receives a B and so on.
Example: "bedight"= A; "knight" = A; "shadow" = B;
"long" = C; "song" = C;
"Eldorado" = B
The pattern for the first stanza is
AABCCB
2. Do all the stanzas follow the same pattern?
3. How many lines are in each stanza?
4. How many syllables are in each stanza?
5. Are all the stanzas the same form in rhyme and
pattern?
Concluding Activities
After reading the poem, choose from the following
activities to generate
higher level thinking in your students. Some of the
activities are written
while others are discussion starters. Research can be
included at this point as
well. Select any of the activities that interest your
students and fit their
ability levels.
Discussion 1
1. What might the knight have sacrificed by searching
for Eldorado his entire
life?
2. Was it worth it?
Discussion 2
1. What other Eldorados have people searched for?
2. What do you think people search for today?
Activity 1
1. Poetry is often written in sentences but arranged
in poetic lines. Reread
the poem as sentences rather than lines of poetry.
2. Now, rephrase each stanza in a one summary
sentence.
Activity 2
1. Research Poe's life.
2. Relate Poe's life to this knight's search.
3. What was Poe's Eldorado?
4. What do they have in common? Create a chart.
5. Use the A&E Biography: Poe, available on video, as
a resource.
Activity 3
1. What is the tone/mood of the poem? Describe it
with words such as:
lighthearted, depressing, inspiring, humorous, etc.
2. If the poem were to be painted using only one
color, what would it be?
Explain why you chosethis color and not another.
3. Create a drawing/painting that will coordinate with
the poem. Use only
shades of this color to create your artwork.
Writing Activities
1. Have students rewrite the poem but modernize it.
Today there would not be a
knight riding a horse, but rather a sergeant driving an
SUV for example. Keep
the same theme of the poem, but make it fit our society
today.
2. Read other poems with the same theme with the
students. Compare this poem
to other poems of the same subject. Excellent choices
would be: Robert Frost's
"the Road Not Taken" and Langston Hughes' "Dreams"
3. Have students choose a historical persona and
rewrite the poem from that
person's point of view. What would Cort‚s think about
this search? For what
type of Eldorado was Abraham Lincoln searching?
4. Students should pretend to be the knight in this
poem. Have the knight
write a letter home explaining what has happened on his
journey and why he will
not be returning home.