In the poem "The Conqueror Worm," Edgar Allan Poe compares life to a play, supporting Shakespeare's idea that "all the world's a stage." With Poe's idea, however, angels are the audience while humans are the puppets, who "come and go/ At the bidding of vast formless things" (12-13). In the end, all of the puppets fall and "the Conqueror Worm," or death, is the victor. Consistent with the theme, the mood in the poem is very dismal. Poe uses many sound devices in the poem "The Conqueror Worm" to develop the somber mood of the tragic drama of Man.
The rhyme of the poem provides a smooth transition between the stanzas and helps to improve the comparison between the poem and the play "the tragedy 'Man'" (39). In the five stanzas, Poe uses an ABABCBCB rhyme scheme, which helps the poem to flow smoothly. This scheme also helps the reader to view the poem as a play. Each stanza can be compared to an act. In the first stanza, or in the "exposition" of the play, Poe describes the setting of the theater and sets the mood for the poem. He describes the "gala night" when "an angel throng. . ./ Sit in a theatre, to see/ A play of hopes and fears" (1,3-7). An orchestra helps to set the mood by "breath[ing] fitfully/ The music of the spheres" (7-8). The next two stanzas are the rising action and show what is occurring on the stage. Poe writes that "mimes, in the form of God on high,/ Mutter and mumble low" (9-10). He describes these mimes as "Mere puppets. . . who come and go/ At bidding of vast formless things" (12-13). The plot is complicated in the third stanza when "much of Madness, and more of Sin,/ And Horror" enter in to the scene (23-24). The fourth stanza, containing the first appearance of the Worm, is the climax. As the "blood-red thing that writhes. . with mortal pangs" begins to have "the mimes become its food," the angels sob at the gruesomeness that the play is taking on (27-29,30). The falling action occurs in the last stanza, where death, or the Worm, turns out to be the ultimate victor, ruining the tragic race Man. The lights are turned out and the curtain, or the "funeral pall" of the species of man, comes down (35). The angels, shaken from the scene that they witnessed and "all pallid and wan," realize that the play was about how man attempts to become great, only to be struck down by death, or the hero of the play, "the Conqueror Worm" (37,40).
Poe effectively uses alliteration and consonance to develop the mood. The "l" sound usually slows down reading and lengthens the words that it is in. Poe uses the "l" sound in the phrase, "lonesome latter years" (2). The "l"s cause the reader to slow down for those two words, and emphasize the loneliness of the speaker. "B"s have the opposite effect. The "b" sound is shorter and more definite. The repetition of "b"s in "bewinged, bedight" so shortly after the "l"s stress the finality of death that the play will have in the end (3). Poe repeats the letter "m" more often than any other letter. The "m" sound slows down the reading of the poem and has a lower, more menacing sound than other letters, similar to the low, threatening growl a dog makes when it feels someone has invaded its territory. Poe uses the letter "m" in phrases such as "Mimes. . ./ Mutter and mumble low," "much of Madness, and more of Sin," "with mortal pangs/ The mimes become its food" (9-10,23,29-30,25). The multiple use of "m"s in these cases creates a feeling of impending doom and dread. In the exposition and the conclusion, where the action concentrates on the members of the audience, the "m" sound is used a total of eight times. However, in the rising action and climax, where the appearance of the Worm is either about to occur or has just occurred and the action centers on the actual play, the "m" sound is used a total of twenty-nine times. Poe intentionally placed the concentration of "m"s in that section to amplify the despairity of the mood when the emergence of the Worm is inevitable.
Assonance is also used to create the gloomy mood. The line "amid the mimic rout/ A crawling shape intrude" repeats the letter "i" (25-26) This sound enhances the eerie feeling of the poem because the letter "i" is a short, high sound. Also, the repetition of the letter "i" could be taken as emphasizing the high-goal, brief life that the puppets have. Also throughout the poem, Poe repeats the sound "o." Some examples are the phrases "and more of Sin,/ And Horror the soul of the plot" and "That motley drama-oh, be sure/ It shall not be forgot!" (23-24,17-18). Similar to the image the sound "m" creates, the letter "o" causes the reader to imagine gloom and despair. It lengthens the words and lowers the tone of voice that the poem is spoken in. Again, Poe intentionally placed words containing the "o" to increase the despondency of the mood.
Poe uses many sound devices, including rhyme, alliteration, consonance, and assonance very effectively to convey his desired mood. The rhyme helps the reader to understand the relationship between the stanzas and the acts of the play. Alliteration, consonance, and assonance all contribute to make the words used enhanced the gloomy mood of the theme. Although "Time is the rider that breaks every man," Edgar Allan Poe's "Conqueror Worm" not only breaks every man, it destroys man in a scene which causes "angels [to] sob at vermin fangs/ In human gore imbued" (31-32).
"The Conqueror Worm", by Edgar Allan Poe
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