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Dreamland By a route obscure and lonely, Haunted by ill angels only, Where an Eidolon named NIGHT, On a black throne reigns upright, I have reached these lands but newly From an ultimate dim thule- From a wild clime that lieth, sublime, out of SPACE out of TIME. Bottomless vales and bounless floods, And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods, With forms that no man can discover For the tears that drip all over; Mountains toppling evermore Into seas witout a shore; Seas that restlessly aspire; Surging unto skies of fire; Lakes that endlessly outspread Their lone waters- lone and dead,- Their still waters- still and chilly With the snows of the lolling lilly. By the lakes that thus outspread Their lone waters, lone and dead,- Their sad waters, said and chilly With the snows of the lolling lilly,- By the mountains- near the river Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,- By the grey woods,- by the swamp Where the toad and the newt encamp- By the dismal tarns and pools Where dwell the Ghouls,- By each spot the most unholy- In each nook most melancholy- There the traveller meets aghast Sheeted Memories of the Past- Shrouded forms that start and sigh As they pass the wanderer by- White-robed forms of friends long given, In agony, to the Earth- and Heaven. For the heart whose woes are legion Tis a peaceful smoothing region- For the spirit that walks in shadow Tis-oh, 'tis an Eldorado! But the traveller,travelling through it, May not- date not openly view it! Never its mysteries are exposed Tothe weak human eye unclosed; So wills its King who hath forbid The uplifting of the fringed lid; And this the sad soul that here passes Beolds it but thorugh darkened glasses. By a route obscure and lonlely, Haunted by ill angels only, Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT, On a black throne reigns upright, I have wandered home byt newly From this ultimate dimThule
Winters, Yvor 'EDGAR ALLAN POE: A CRISIS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN OBSCURANTISM.' American Literature 8.4 (1937): 379. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.
The poem is about the author (Edgar Allen Poe) entering an alternate dimmension where he views a land that is both heaven and hell which he calls Dreamland. In this land there are 'ill angels', angels symbolise heaven but since they are ill they represent fallen angels in other words demons which characterise hell. Also it says 'For the heart whose woes are legion'Tis a peaceful, soothing region-For the spirit that walks in shadowTis- oh, 'tis an Eldorado!' meaning that for some of the residents of Dreamland the place is a Eldorado (Golden City) in other words a heaven. But it says that ghouls and shrouded forms live there both of which are ill omens that reside in hell.
