This poem has taken on a special resonance —
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
I find it puzzling that in the concluding stanza, where the idea evoked, that Eldorado exists in an impossible to arrive at place, seems to admit of a wide choice of vocabulary, Poe chooses two words in which the rhyme is notably poor: — pairing the ‘-tains’ of ‘mountains’ with ‘moon.’ Quite a contrast with the other stanzas’ “length/ strength” “knight/ bedight” “old/bold”.
‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’
What are the mountains of the moon?
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 