BRIDAL BALLAD (Page 19)
Published in 1837, 1841, 1845, and greatly improved in revision. The bride remembers her dead lover who died in battle, and wonders fearfully whether "the dead who is forsaken" knows and is unhappy.
SILENCE (Page 20)
Published in 1840, 1843, and 1845.
THE CONQUEROR WORM (Page 21)
Published in 1843 and 1845. The repulsive imagery recurs in several of the tales and poems, and shows one of the most morbid phases of Poe's imagination (see Introduction, page xxiv). It would hardly meet Poe's own test of beauty, but the grim power of this terrible picture is palpable enough.
9. Mimes: actors, who in this case are men; mankind.
13. vast formless things: doubtless the Fates (consult Gayley's "Classic Myths"); at any rate beings who exercise the same powers.
15. condor wings. The condor is a great vulture of South America; the word here suggests the Fates preying on human happiness, health, and life.
18. Phantom: happiness, or perhaps any object of human desire or ambition.