Symbolism In Edgar Allen Poe's El Dorado

El Dorado by Edgar Allan Poe is a classic that will be remembered for ages to come. It’s full of symbolism and has a incredible meaning. El Dorado is Poe’s way of showing people that we often times work for an unattainable goal, a prize that we will never be. El Dorado is a term often used to describe a place of paradise. Which what the Knights exploration was for. The theme is rather present throughout the entirety of the poem. The first confirmation of the theme is found in the 2nd through the last line in the first stanza. It reads “A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado.” These lines show that there is a youthful knight searching for a paradise, the knight has all the hope

He worked his whole life without ever finding the one thing he wanted. This could showcase Poe’s belief that we all search for something that we will never find in the end. Which is exactly what the theme is trying to illustrate, the idea that people spend their lives working towards an ultimately unobtainable goal. Lastly in the final stanza, the brave knight is faced with a shadow, or grim reaper type. When the knight asks about the location of El Dorado the shadow replied with “"Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride,"The shade replied, --"If you seek for El Dorado!” This line shows that the shadow is telling the knight that El Dorado doesn’t really exist and that he spent the entirety of his life searching for a place that doesn’t really exist. Much like Poe thought people did. They searched and worked their entire lives trying to find a place that is fraudulent. El Dorado is the tale of humanity and everyones search for a paradise that doesn’t