11 - 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 Lebrivox
dot Org by Thomas Peter Lo Tis a gallant night
within the lonesome latter years. An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
in veils, and drowned in tears, sit in a theater

(00:25):
to see a play of hopes and fears, while the
orchestra breathe fitfully the music of the spheres. Minds in
the form of card on a high mutter and mumble low,
and hither and thither fly mere puppets, they who come

(00:49):
and go at bidding of vast, formless things that shift
the scenery to and fro, flapping from out their ponder
wings invisible woe that Motley drama on. Be sure it
shall not be forgot with its phantom chaste for evermore

(01:14):
by a crab that sees it not through a circle,
that ever it turneth in to the self same spot,
and much of madness, and more of sin and horror
the soul of the plot. But see amid the mimic rout,

(01:35):
a crawling shape and truth, a blood red thing that
rise from out the scenic solitude. It rise, it ries
with mortal pangs the mimes become its food, and seraphs

(01:55):
sob but firmin 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

(02:16):
of a storm, or the angels of Pallid and Wan
uprising unveiling. Affirm that the play is the tragedy man,
and its hero the conqueror Worm. End of poem. This

(02:39):
recording is in the public domain.