From the deserts of Egypt in the third century up to the modern-day masses of the Catholic church, Christians have warned the human race of committing any of the seven deadly sins. Despite many, including non-Christians, believing these sins to be the folly of mankind, humans continue to proudly commit the capital vices time and time again. In fact, the entirety of the United States has a reputation centered around some of these cardinal sins, including gluttony, pride, and most notably, greed. Starting with the taking of Native American land leading up to the capitalist monopolies of the modern market, Americans have a culture centered around greed and the constant desire for more. Even the first Europeans to colonize the Americas only journeyed
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Poe’s narrative poem criticizes humanity’s life-consuming obsession with greed, and he elevates his message by using various references, by substituting a part of a person for their whole, and by the songlike rhyming of the poem. In his poem, Poe uses multiple allusions to further his message of how greed consumes one’s life. Throughout the text, Poe ends each stanza with the repeated word, “Eldorado” (Poe 4). This word is a clear reference to the historical El Dorado, or the City of Gold. The original story was known as El Hombre Dorado, or The Golden Man; it was Spanish myth of a Colombian chief who bathed himself in gold, but the tale soon evolved into a legend of a city in South America made entirely out of gold. Numerous conquistadors and other explorers began searching fruitlessly in the 16th century, but …show more content…
Each of the sestains in the poem follow the same rhyming pattern: the first and second line rhyme, and so do the fourth and fifth, while the third and sixth are matching. This pattern repeats for the first three stanzas, but breaks when it reaches the final stanza. At this point in the text, a man is telling the knight that the search for Eldorado is futile. Poe manages to complete two things by not repeating this rhythm for the last stanza. Firstly, the crumbling rhyme scheme parallels with the knight’s crumbling dreams. Both the knight and the rhyming had fallen into a pattern: the knight, searching for riches, and the rhyming, in a literal pattern. However, when the man informs that knight that is no hope of finding Eldorado, the knight’s only remaining purpose in life is rendered worthless. To communicate this loss, the structure of the poem itself seems to fall apart. This creates a stronger emotional reaction for the reader and emphasizes the loss felt by the greedy knight. Furthermore, by not repeating the established rhyme scheme in the final sestain, Poe re-enforces his main message. The final stanza, in and of itself, is the overall theme of the poem. By deferring from the pattern at this point, the readers pay more attention to what they are reading. Thus, the true message and core of the poem will stay in the
Poe’s narrative poem criticizes humanity’s life-consuming obsession with greed, and he elevates his message by using various references, by substituting a part of a person for their whole, and by the songlike rhyming of the poem. In his poem, Poe uses multiple allusions to further his message of how greed consumes one’s life. Throughout the text, Poe ends each stanza with the repeated word, “Eldorado” (Poe 4). This word is a clear reference to the historical El Dorado, or the City of Gold. The original story was known as El Hombre Dorado, or The Golden Man; it was Spanish myth of a Colombian chief who bathed himself in gold, but the tale soon evolved into a legend of a city in South America made entirely out of gold. Numerous conquistadors and other explorers began searching fruitlessly in the 16th century, but …show more content…
Each of the sestains in the poem follow the same rhyming pattern: the first and second line rhyme, and so do the fourth and fifth, while the third and sixth are matching. This pattern repeats for the first three stanzas, but breaks when it reaches the final stanza. At this point in the text, a man is telling the knight that the search for Eldorado is futile. Poe manages to complete two things by not repeating this rhythm for the last stanza. Firstly, the crumbling rhyme scheme parallels with the knight’s crumbling dreams. Both the knight and the rhyming had fallen into a pattern: the knight, searching for riches, and the rhyming, in a literal pattern. However, when the man informs that knight that is no hope of finding Eldorado, the knight’s only remaining purpose in life is rendered worthless. To communicate this loss, the structure of the poem itself seems to fall apart. This creates a stronger emotional reaction for the reader and emphasizes the loss felt by the greedy knight. Furthermore, by not repeating the established rhyme scheme in the final sestain, Poe re-enforces his main message. The final stanza, in and of itself, is the overall theme of the poem. By deferring from the pattern at this point, the readers pay more attention to what they are reading. Thus, the true message and core of the poem will stay in the