The poem serves as an allegory about a king "in the olden time long ago" who is afraid of evil forces that threaten him and his palace, foreshadowing impending doom.
After discussing the wit and wisdom of the king, and song and beauty in the kingdom: The house and family are destroyed and, apparently, become phantoms.
[2] In 1845, Thomas Dunn English claimed Poe had tried to sell "The Haunted Palace" to John L. O'Sullivan of the Democratic Review but was rejected because he "found it impossible to comprehend it".
"[6] In 1904, French composer Florent Schmitt wrote an étude, Le palais hanté, derived from "The Haunted Palace".
British musician Peter Hammill incorporated a musical setting of the poem into his opera based on the Poe short story, The Fall of the House of Usher.