Far from the history, this poem is about a man on treasure hunt, who went in look for the Eldorado. He was exhausted in his search and ended up dead before he could reach the land he was looking for. As he died, a pilgrim shadow appeared and he enquired of it about the Eldorado. He was told that it still was far away. He died chasing the dream. I think this should remind you of our young age fantasies, at least to some point.
There are some aspects of the poem that I am sure you would find very enjoyable. For instance, there is the use of rhyme which makes it sound quite musical. There is the usage of words such as bedight and knight (Allen, 1) long and song, old and bold, length and strength (Allen, 3). These were quite entertaining and I found them to be very interesting. As far as I know you, I am pretty sure that they would also be exciting to you.
Though there are all these factors to consider, I think the most interesting fact about the poem is that it is easy to understand and does not give the reader a hard time to understand. Given that it is a kind of narrative, it goes straight to the point, avoiding much of the vague additions and the big words that poets often use. The ideas are presented in short, precise sentences that can be easily understood by anyone, not necessarily the people interested in poetry. The poem also gives much wisdom about life. The main idea being propagated is the fact that we should not chase mirages in life, as we could miss out on some other important and realistic aspects of life as we chase unrealistic goals. This is seen through bedight who just embarked on the journey without prior consultations. It was only at the brink of his failure that he consulted. Even so, he consulted the wrong source since it was just a pilgrim shadow (Allen, 4). If only he had done things right, he probably would not have been disappointed. As such, I gather the poem is about the choices we make in life.
So, there you are, I recommend the poem to you since I believe that besides enjoying the read, it will also be a good form of advice or life skill. Chasing the mirage is not the in thing in life, rather, we should be realistic in what we do because only then can our efforts bear fruit. I know you are not a great fan of poems, but I bet you will like this one. Give it a try.
Work Cited
Allen, Edgar P. “Eldorado.” Poemhunter.com, 2012. Web, 23 May 2012, http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/eldorado/
