The Conqueror Worm is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe about human mortality and the inevitability of death. An audience of angels gathers to watch a play. Mimes fly around the stage, seemingly as puppets driven by invisible forces, and the plot describes sin, madness, and horror. The crawling Conqueror Worm then appears, writing as it eats the mimes. The curtain falls, and the distressed angels affirm that the play is a tragedy called "Man" and that the Conqueror Worm is the hero. Poe believed strongly in the aesthetic benefits of ensuring a unified mood throughout a poetic work, and he establishes the tone of his poem in the first stanza, as he introduces the image of angels "bedight in veils, and drowned in tears." The angels are associated with goodness and with Heaven, and their sorrow provides an early indication that the play will be a tragedy, although the protagonist has yet to enter the stage. As the play progresses to its completion, we find that humanity is merely a mass of faceless puppets who are victims of the true protagonist, the Conqueror Worm. In this tragedy called "Man," the Worm acts both as a particularly bloody Grim Reaper and as an interpretation of the evil serpent from the Biblical Garden of Eden. Unlike in most tragedies, however, the hero does not die but instead achieves victory, and the angels cannot help but mourn. You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Conqueror Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe on our website.
