Help a student!

[nigel_lane]

hi people, can someone tell me if eldorado was published in a collection and if so what was it called, when, where and by whom was it published?

this info would help me along in a project i'm doing for college, thanx a mil!

[Tis]

The poem, Eldorado, was first published in the Flag of Our Union in April 21, 1849 and likely written earlier that spring and perhaps as early as February. Poe spent much of early 1849 preparing to start his magazine, The Stylus, and had already prepared a prospectus a year earlier and had collected a substantial sum. Through the late spring and summer, Poe lectured in Richmond where he met his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, and asked her to marry him. He left Richmond for New York on September 27, 1849 about 4:00 a.m. in the morning by boat. He was found unconscious on October 3, 1849 in Baltimore and died four days later in Washington College Hospital in Baltimore.

The poem was not republished again until January 10, 1850 when it appeared in the first two volumes of a set of four titled The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe by Poe’s first biographer, Rufus Wilmont Griswold. The poem was reprinted in the Hartford Times in Hartford Connecticut on February 23, 1850.

Historically, El Dorado (meaning ‘gilded man’) was a legendary city of fabulous wealth in Colombia where the Chieftain was ceremoniously covered in gold and washed in a sacred lake while he cast precious gems in an offering to the Gods. When the conquistadors arrived in South America in the 16th century, this legend was still told among the Native Indians. Hoping to find this boundless wealth, Spanish and English explorers searched South America and all along the Amazon River for the lost City of Gold. Upon his return to England, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote of these adventures and, for a time, El Dorado even appeared on English maps.

There is little doubt Edgar Allan Poe had heard or read of these stories and was familiar with the legend. Then, in 1848, the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California triggered the Gold Rush of 1849. After President James K Polk announced the discovery in 1849, some 80,000 people were said to have hastily sold out everything they owned to seek their fortune in California. A few found their treasure but even fewer found their new wealth in gold. Most “49ers” lost everything and ended staying in California as was reported widely in newspapers of the time.

The poem Eldorado is a figurative representation of the fate of the majority of 49ers during the gold rush and is told from the perspective of a knight in search of his own quest. Clad resplendently in shining armor, his future bright, a brave and eager young knight sets out to pursue his glory only to find his own brand of despair and disappointment.

[Scheherazade]

Help a student??? How?? Is this one of those 'Adopt A...' Schemes? Like 'Adopt A Student'????