Summary:

The Haunted Palace By Edgar Allan Poe

The poem begins with the speaker describing a wonderful place. This place has "the greenest of our valleys" and a "stately," "radiant" palace that even the highest angels, the seraphs, find the fairest. Banners of "yellow, glorious, golden" wave in the "gentle air." The poem becomes mystical when the speaker looks through two windows and sees "spirits moving musically" and the glorious "ruler of the realm" inside. The palace is so fine, the door is said to have "pearl and ruby glowing”. The voices of the singers, referred to as a "troop of Echoes" are very beautiful and they sang about "the wit and wisdom of their king."

In addition to the beauty and pleasantness of the beginning, the other important part to notice is that the first four stanzas are told in the past tense. The author gives several clues that it is in the past tense, including using the word "once," using the past tense of verbs, stating "This - all this - was in the olden / Time long ago," and remembering the palace "in that sweet day."

There is a tone shift in stanza five. The happiness comes to an end at the end of stanza four. Stanza five brings a sad tone with "evil things" that attack the king's palace. Now the windows have a red light coming out of them. Instead of moving harmoniously, the "vast forms" move "to a discordant melody," without their former grace. "A hideous throng" rushes out of the door, laughing without smiling.

In addition to the tone shift, there is also a shift in time. The poem moves from its long ago past and is now mostly told in present tense. The good times are "but a dim-remembered story / Of the old time entombed." In other words, all the joy left the kingdom.