Eldorado
by Edgar Allan Poe

US poet, critic and short story writer. Poe is best known for his macabre horror stories including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Gold Bug and The Black Cat (1842). His key poems include Lenore (1831), The Raven (1842), Ulalume (1847). He also wrote some critical essays including The Philosophy of Composition (1846), Time and Space (1844) and The Poetic Principle (1850), and a novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838). Poe had a great influence on a number of writers including Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne.

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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!'

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Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe