09 - 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 readfully Rivox dot
Org by Sonya. The Conqueror Worm lo tis a gala
night within the lonesome latter years. An angel throng, bewinged,
bedied in veils, and drowned in tears, sit in a

(00:21):
theater to see a play of hopes and fierce while
the orchestra breathe 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 day who come
and go at bidding of vast, formless things that shift

(00:45):
the scenery to and fro, flapping from out their condor
wings invisible. 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 in to the self same spot. And

(01:09):
much of madness, and more of sin and horror the
soul of the plot. But see amid the mimic rout,
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 seraphs sob

(01:34):
but vermin fangs in human 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.

(01:58):
Affirm that the play is the tragedy man, and is
hero the conqueror worm. End of poem. This recording is
in the public domain.