The Conqueror Worm Analysis

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.

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“The Conqueror Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem in which Poe is relating life altogether as a pointless play for the amusement of the Angels, who watch as the shapeless forms who act as “Mimes, in the form of God on high,” control the poor “puppets,” which are men. The play of life is a tragedy, and so the heavenly beings weep at the hopes and fears of the insignificant. The hero is the Conqueror Worm, because he ends the misery of the tragic life of “Man.” Life is the play and death is the finale, who swallows his victim and ends the pointlessness of life and the tragedy of man. Poe wrote this poem, not because of occurrences in his life, but because his outlook on life altogether is a tragic play, a pointless game, that is heroically ended by the Conqueror Worm, who represents death.
hailey curry
8th grade

| Posted on 2009-01-13 | by a guest

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What poe is trying to say is that by using the mimes as us, we are only pawns in a greater world, while we do nothing relevant. "the conqueror worm" is his representation of death. It is a hero because it ends our pointless existence.

| Posted on 2008-11-17 | by a guest

.: hot_punk13 :.

The Conqueror Wormn is a poem that show Poe's belief that life is merely a play an death the finale. Angels watch the tragedy until the "conqueror worm," or death, playing the role of the hero comes and ends the tragic play. Using a worm in place of death is saying that worms as decomposers who feed on dead organisms are the final link in the chain of the life that humans are a part of

| Posted on 2008-02-06 | by a guest

.: :.

this poem is saying that all of humainity's struggles are for nothing. we just go in circles, and cause nothing but horror and sin, while being pawns for greater beings. The worm is a representation of death. it is regarded as the hero because it ends the that we, the villians, cause. all in all, it seems that poe regards all life as tragedy, and death as the hero comes to promise no more suffering. Poe feels that life is nothing but a play, an interesting story, but nothing truly important. he also seems to believe that angels are doing nothing. just watching, and letting the "shapeless beings" (probably demons, or fate) do it's work, while they sit and cry for humanity. overall, a depressing peom, but an interesting look at death, which is usually regarded as the evil being.

| Posted on 2005-07-11 | by thor_s avatar