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b'EA Poe read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------------\\n\\nThe Conqueror Worm\\n\\nby Edgar Allan Poe (1809 \\u2013 1849)\\n\\n\\nLo! \'t is a gala night \\n Within the lonesome latter years. \\nAn angel throng, bewinged, bedight \\n In veils, and drowned in tears, \\nSit in a theatre to see \\n A play of hopes and fears, \\nWhile the orchestra breathes fitfully \\n The music of the spheres. \\n \\nMimes, in the form of God on high, \\n Mutter and mumble low, \\nAnd hither and thither fly; \\n Mere puppets they, who come and go \\nAt bidding of vast formless things \\n That shift the scenery to and fro, \\nFlapping from out their condor wings \\n Invisible Woe. \\n \\nThat motley drama\\u2014oh, be sure \\n It shall not be forgot! \\nWith its Phantom chased for evermore \\n By a crowd that seize it not, \\nThrough a circle that ever returneth in \\n To the self-same spot; \\nAnd much of Madness, and more of Sin, \\n And Horror the soul of the plot. \\n \\nBut see amid the mimic rout \\n A crawling shape intrude: \\nA blood-red thing that writhes from out \\n The scenic solitude! \\nIt writhes\\u2014it writhes!\\u2014with mortal pangs \\n The mimes become its food, \\n And over each quivering form \\n In human gore imbued. \\n \\nOut\\u2014out are the lights\\u2014out all! \\n And over each quivering form \\nThe curtain, a funeral pall, \\n Comes down with the rush of a storm, \\nWhile the angels, all pallid and wan, \\n Uprising, unveiling, affirm \\nThat the play is the tragedy, "Man," \\n And its hero, the Conqueror Worm. \\n\\nFirst aired: 23 November 2007\\n\\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\\n\\nReading \\xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008'