The Conqueror Worm Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

The Conqueror Worm

Rating: 3.7


Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
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 Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize 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 see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes 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 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 is the tragedy, 'Man,'
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

The Conqueror Worm
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Jamie Simmons 28 July 2006

A grand presentaion of life and death of humans. I love Poe! !

17 7 Reply
* Sunprincess * 16 September 2015

....amazing poem with a most incredible rhythm, and so beautifully penned.. love this ★

6 3 Reply
Brian Jani 28 April 2014

You surely know how to wrote, I like each and every poem of yours

7 10 Reply
Jack Cena 07 September 2018

No offense, but you know he died a very long time ago, right?

0 1
Caroline Bulleck 01 October 2012

I fell in love with this poem the first time I read it. The imagery, diction, writing style and rhyming scheme he uses is amazing.

13 11 Reply
Mark Lacharite 21 January 2012

How the angels witness man take themselves to play the martyr and the catalyst is always an astounding view to behold! Look....I know you've been dead awhile...lol....but I don't go a day away without a poem of yours in my head! -Mark Lacharite

9 16 Reply
Steven Fearnley 14 January 2009

A masterpiece of a dark over the top nightmare scenario.

10 11 Reply
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