The poem's title refers to the idea that buried corpses are eaten by worms. Although the connection between worms and death dates back many centuries, Poe may have been influenced by the poem "The Proud Ladye" by Spencer Wallis Cone, which was published in an 1840 edition of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, in which the phrase "the conqueror worm" appears. The theatrical imagery in the poem may have been influenced by the fact that Poe's parents, Eliza Poe and David Poe, Jr., both of whom died before they reached the age of thirty, had both been actors.