Uploaded October 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the great Edgar Allan Poe reading his characteristically pessimistic poem The Conqueror Worm. "Food for worms" was how the British dissolute gothic poet described himself in his suicide note in the final analysis that is all we are is the theme of this joyous ode.
"The Conqueror Worm" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe about human mortality and the inevitability of death. It was first published separately in Graham's Magazine in 1843, but quickly became associated with Poe's short story "Ligeia" after Poe added the poem to a revised publication of the story in 1845. In the revised story, the poem is composed by the eponymous Ligeia, and taught to the narrator in the fits of her death throes.
An audience of weeping angels watches a play performed by "mimes, in the form of God on high", and controlled by vast formless shapes looming behind the scenes. The mimes chase a "Phantom" which they can never capture, running around in circles. Finally, a monstrous "crawling shape" emerges, and eats the mimes. The final curtain comes down, "a funeral pall," signaling an end to the "tragedy, 'Man'" whose only hero is "The Conqueror Worm".
"The Conqueror Worm" was first published as a stand-alone poem in the January 1843 issue of Graham's Magazine.[1] Shortly after, it was included among several other poems by Poe in the February 25 issue of the Saturday Museum in a feature called "The Poets & Poetry of Philadelphia: Edgar Allan Poe".[2] It was later included in Poe's poetry collection The Raven and Other Poems in 1845.[1] That same year, it was incorporated into "Ligeia" for the first time when the story was reprinted in the February 15, 1845, issue of the New York World.[3] "Ligeia" was again republished with "The Conqueror Worm" in the September 27, 1845, issue of The Broadway Journal while Poe was its editor.[4] This was not unusual for Poe, who had also incorporated poems "The Coliseum" and "To One in Paradise" into tales
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
Here's a virtual movie of the great Edgar Allan Poe reading his characteristically pessimistic poem The Conqueror Worm. "Food for worms" was how the British dissolute gothic poet described himself in his suicide note in the final analysis that is all we are is the theme of this joyous ode.
"The Conqueror Worm" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe about human mortality and the inevitability of death. It was first published separately in Graham's Magazine in 1843, but quickly became associated with Poe's short story "Ligeia" after Poe added the poem to a revised publication of the story in 1845. In the revised story, the poem is composed by the eponymous Ligeia, and taught to the narrator in the fits of her death throes.
An audience of weeping angels watches a play performed by "mimes, in the form of God on high", and controlled by vast formless shapes looming behind the scenes. The mimes chase a "Phantom" which they can never capture, running around in circles. Finally, a monstrous "crawling shape" emerges, and eats the mimes. The final curtain comes down, "a funeral pall," signaling an end to the "tragedy, 'Man'" whose only hero is "The Conqueror Worm".
"The Conqueror Worm" was first published as a stand-alone poem in the January 1843 issue of Graham's Magazine.[1] Shortly after, it was included among several other poems by Poe in the February 25 issue of the Saturday Museum in a feature called "The Poets & Poetry of Philadelphia: Edgar Allan Poe".[2] It was later included in Poe's poetry collection The Raven and Other Poems in 1845.[1] That same year, it was incorporated into "Ligeia" for the first time when the story was reprinted in the February 15, 1845, issue of the New York World.[3] "Ligeia" was again republished with "The Conqueror Worm" in the September 27, 1845, issue of The Broadway Journal while Poe was its editor.[4] This was not unusual for Poe, who had also incorporated poems "The Coliseum" and "To One in Paradise" into tales
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
