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 night 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 cam 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!"

     This is the poem Eldorado, by Edgar Allan Poe. The reason I chose this poem, is because of the hidden darker side. It starts off so joyously and bright, with "Gaily bedight," but then takes a dark turn with the knights death comes near. The hidden darkness is the shadow. This is because the shadow represents the reaper come to collect his soul. The words of the shadow crush an already broken knight. The shadow tells him to get to Eldorado, he must take an impossible journey over the and through the realm of the damned.