what does the poems "eldorado" and "evening star" mean? iv read them and can put my finger on it. thank you for your time...

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2003

Answers

Eldorado, literally the golden one is a legend of a king painted and covered in gold, a Conquistadore quest. Poe was writing this at the time of the Gold Rush and seems to have set the poem in a more far away long ago setting. It becomes a symbol for all quests and the act of questing itself never reaching the goal in this life at least.

The Evening Star is Venus and is here opposed to the conceit held by other poets of the moon being romantic,a hint of an underdog theme against a powerful antagonistic and colder tyranny. Probably a response to Thomas Moore's "While Gazing on the Moon's Light". The use of a cloud to temporarily block the moon glare is interesting to compare to the inspirational cloud in "Alone."

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2003

Sunset and sunrise

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2003