Analysis
The poem is made up of four six-line stanzas. Poe uses the term shadow in the middle of each stanza. The meaning of the word, however, changes with each use. First, it is a literal shadow, where the sun is blocked out. In the second, it implies gloom or despair. The third use is a ghost. The final use, "the Valley of Shadow," references the "Valley of the Shadow of Death," possibly suggesting that Eldorado (or riches in general) does not exist in the living world, or may be extremely difficult to find in the physical realm. Eldorado can also be interpreted not as the worldly, yellowish metal, but as treasures that actually have the possibility of existence in the abode of spirits. These "spiritual" treasures are that of the mind: knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. In this case, Edgar Poe doubted the worthiness of humanity to possess such "mental wealth" and admitted to the inescapable worldliness of mankind.
The time of the poem's publication, 1849, was during the California Gold Rush and was Poe's reaction to that event.
"Eldorado" was one of Poe's last poems. As Poe scholar Scott Peeples wrote, the poem is "a fitting close to a discussion of Poe's career." Like the narrator of the poem, Poe was on a quest for success or happiness and, despite spending his life searching for it, he eventually loses his strength and faces death.
Particularly ironic is the narrator's encounter with a ghost who supposedly knows the way to Eldorado. A ghost represents a dead person, who by definition has failed to find eternal life. Conversely, a ghost does not have a fixed lifespan and can be said to have achieved eternal life, though certainly not of the sort living humans aspire to.
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