I chose to write on this piece because it was the door used to
re-introduce me to the classics. I spent many hours as a young person lamenting
the reading of Poe and other classic literature, having only read enough to
reply to the questions posed by my educators. When this piece was handed out in
my first English Class in twenty years, I was dreading the work. I learned very quickly that I love the
language, the rhythms the art that once was writing. The word choices now entice me and allow me
to grow. I love to look at the words and
try to decide WHY did the author chose such a word. Was it for the rhythm or the deeper
meaning? Did he/she sit with pen to chin
tapping as they sought a perfect word? Are we one in the same? Yes I often conclude we are!
The
Conqueror Worm
Lo! ’t is 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 Wo!
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment