Dreamland

Author: Edgar Allan Poe  | Date: 1844

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 boundless 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 without 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 lily.

By the lakes that thus outspread

Their lone waters, lone and dead,-

Their sad waters, sad and chilly

With the snows of the lolling lily,-

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, soothing region-

For the spirit that walks in shadow

’Tis- oh, ’tis an Eldorado!

But the traveller, travelling through it,

May not- dare not openly view it!

Never its mysteries are exposed

To the weak human eye unclosed;

So wills its King, who hath forbid

The uplifting of the fringed lid;

And thus the sad Soul that here passes

Beholds it but through darkened glasses.

By a route obscure and lonely,

Haunted by ill angels only,

Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,

On a black throne reigns upright,

I have wandered home but newly

From this ultimate dim Thule.

Related Resources

None available for this document.

Download Options


Title: Dreamland

Select an option:

*Note: A download may not start for up to 60 seconds.

Email Options


Title: Dreamland

Select an option:

Email addres:

*Note: It may take up to 60 seconds for for the email to be generated.

Chicago: Edgar Allan Poe, Dreamland Original Sources, accessed March 28, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IFUK62YJSI6PSZZ.

MLA: Poe, Edgar Allan. Dreamland, Original Sources. 28 Mar. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IFUK62YJSI6PSZZ.

Harvard: Poe, EA, Dreamland. Original Sources, retrieved 28 March 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=IFUK62YJSI6PSZZ.