07 - Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe, a pivotal figure in American literature, was not just an accomplished writer, editor, and literary critic; he was also a master of the macabre and the mysterious. Renowned for his haunting poetry and chilling short stories, Poe is celebrated as a key voice of Romanticism in the United States. He pioneered the detective fiction genre and made significant contributions to the early development of science fiction. Join us as we delve into the eerie and captivating world of Poes imagination. - Summary by Wikipedia

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe read for LibriVox
dot Org by Nemo Lo tis a gallanite within the
lonesome latter years, an angel throng, bewinged, bedight in veils,

(00:23):
and drowned in tears. Sit in a theater to see
a play of hopes and fears, while the orchestra breathe
fitfully the music of the spheres. Mimes in the form
of God on high mutter and mumble low, and hither

(00:44):
and thither fly mere puppets, they who come and go
at bidding of vast, formless things that shift the scenery
to and fro, flapping from out their condor wings invisible
woe that motley drama, oh be sure, shall not be forgot,

(01:10):
with its phantom chaste forevermore by a crowd that sees
it not through a circle that ever returneth in to
the self same spot. And much of madness, and more
of sin and horror the soul of the plot. But

(01:32):
see amid the mimic route, a crawling shape intrude, a
blood red thing that rise from out the scenic solitude.
It rise, it rise with mortal pangs. The mimes become
its food and seraph sob at vermin fangs in human

(01:58):
gore imbued out out of the lights, out all and over,
each quivering form. The curtain a funeral pall comes down
with a rush of a storm, while the angels all

(02:20):
Palladin wan uprising, unveiling, unfirm that the play is the
tragedy Man and its hero the conqueror Worm end a poem.

(02:40):
This recording is in the public domain.