08 - 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 philshamph Lo. Tis a gala night within
the lonesome latter years. An angel throng, bewinged, bedight in veils,
and drown'd in tears, sit in a theater to see

(00:20):
a play of hopes and fears, while the orchestra breathes
fitfully the music of the spheres. Mimes in the form
of God on high mutter and mumble low, and hither
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

(00:45):
woe that motley drama. Oh, be sure it shall not
be forgot, with its phantom chaste for evermore by a
crowd that sees it, not through a circle, that ever
returneth into the self same spot. And much of madness,
and more of sin and horror the soul of the plot.

(01:07):
But see amid the mimic route, a crawling shape intrude,
a blood red thing that rise from out the scenic solitude.
It writhes, It writhes with mortal pangs. The mimes become
its food, and seraphs sob at vermin fangs in human

(01:28):
gore imbued out. Out are the lights out, all and
over each quivering form the curtain a funeral pall comes
down with the rush of a storm, while the angels
all pallid and wan uprising unveiling. Affirm that the play

(01:49):
is the tragedy Man and its hero the conqueror Worm
and a poem. This recording is in the public domain.