The Conqueror Worm
The Conqueror Worm (Eng. The Conqueror Worm ) is a ballad poem by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1843 in Graham 's Magazine, however, accompanied shortly thereafter by Poe in a revised version of the 1845 short story Ligeia. In this story, the poem stands on the site of Ligeia death spasms.
Form and summary
The poem uses the popular allegory which was sketched life as a stage play and heavily influenced by William Shakespeare. For Poe, it has furthermore important because his parents were both actors:
Based on the classic drama, it consists of five stanzas representative of three acts, an interlude and an epilogue. The stanzas in Poe's poem accordingly fulfill the functions of the various acts of the theory of drama.
In the first stanza, the conditions are given and presented to the actors: They are a band of angels, a flock of people and the conqueror worm as the personified death. The angels are not sure about the disastrous outcome of the play clear and occur in mourning. An orchestra plays jerky and erratic music.
In the second stanza, the people are presented in detail. You feel blessed by God, but more like soulless puppets, who persistently a formless ideal ( or a hope or a dream ) chase. The angels comment on this behavior as invisible woe: invisible suffering.
The third verse is outside the plot: A third warns that the " Colourful spectacle " will certainly not be forgotten. The ideal would be constantly chased and the essence of the piece is the madness and the sins of the people.
The fourth verse drives the action continues further: From the recurring rush of people emerges a figure. You seem to suffer great pain and begins to eat the actors in a brutal manner. The angels weep for the people.
The last verse constituted a sequel and makes the same with the first words of amplifies clear: " From the light ". The angels are pale and wan and proclaim rising recognition that the previous game, the tragedy "Man " have been the hero of which is death.
Rhyme and meter
The fact that the metric structure of the first four verses of the first stanza of the first four verses of the second stanza is exactly inverse, allows for the interpretation of meaning analogy between angels and men, which are presented in the poem sections. The identical metrical structure of verse 3 and 4 is explained by the fact that the plot of the fourth stanza constitutes only the arrival of the predictions from the third stanza.
Rhyme
With the exception of the last stanza each consisting of 8 verses in 4 pure cross rhymes of the form ab ab cb cb. The last stanza has two rhymes and cross to one each intersecting half and an eye rhyme. This gives the form: ab ab ( c ) d ( c ) d
Metrics
General is the poem an iambic meter to reason with either 3 or 4 Versfüßen per line. ( Except 2:16: 2 feet ). The foot structure here is identical only in verse 3 and 4. The last stanza is purely anapästisch with continuous 3 Versfüßen ( except 5:33 trochaic ).
The worm in the worm
The origin of the connection between worms with death dates far back before Poe 's lifetime, however, is the inspiration for the worm motif a number of pieces used. With safety of gigantic blood - red worm with deadly claws is a product of the imagination of Poe. Nevertheless, it has his image in reality by the worm Nereis.
The Conqueror Worm
Bibliography
- Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
- Lubbers, Klaus, " Poe's ' The Conqueror Worm ', " American Literature, 1967, 39:375-379
- Routh, James, " Notes on the Sources of Poe 's Poetry: Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, " Modern Language Notes, March 1914, 29:72-75
- Kick, Michael, " ' Ligeia ' and ' The Conqueror Worm ', " Poe Studies, 1976, 9:21-22
- Whitty, James Howard, ed, The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1911