Symbol Analysis
Another set of creepy bad guys who live in Dream-Land. A ghoul can specifically refer to an evil spirit that eats dead bodies, although we also use it to mean any kind of awful, gross monster. These particular Ghouls just pop up for a moment, but they make a big impact. They come out of nowhere, and really make us feel the darkness and despair of the icky marsh where they live.
- Line 30: Poe plays a neat poetic trick here. He drops the Ghouls in right in the middle of the poem, and the line where they show up is really short. That makes the reader trip a little, and really notice them. It's a little like having something jump out at you in a horror movie. We don't hear much more about these grimy creatures. It's almost like the poem runs away from them.