the Northern Nations (1823) or Legends of Terror! (1826), both of which published the story without attribution, which may explain why Poe does not mention anyone as an inspiration for "Ligeia". The poem within the story, "The Conqueror Worm", also leads to some questioning of Ligeia's alleged resurrection. The poem essentially shows an admission of her own inevitable mortality. The inclusion of the bitter poem may have been meant to be ironic or a parody of the convention at the time, both in literature and in life. In the mid-19th century it was common to emphasize the sacredness of death and the beauty of dying (consider Charles Dickens's Little Johnny character in Our Mutual Friend or the death of Helen Burns in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre). Instead, Ligeia speaks of fear personified in the "blood-red thing". Other interpretations have been suggested however. Poe's friend and fellow Southern writer Philip Pendleton Cooke suggested the story would have been more artistic if Rowena's possession by Ligeia had been more gradual; Poe later agreed, though he had already used a slower possession in "Morella". Poe also wrote that he should have had the Ligeia-possessed Rowena relapse to her true self so that she could be entombed as Rowena, "the bodily alterations having gradually faded away". However, in a subsequent letter he retracted this statement. As satire There has been some debate that Poe may have intended "Ligeia" to be a satire of Gothic fiction. The year that "Ligeia" was published, Poe published only two other prose pieces: "Siope—A Fable" and "The Psyche Zenobia", both Gothic-styled satires. Supporting evidence for this theory includes the implication that Ligeia is from Germany, a main source of Gothic fiction in the 19th century, and that the description of her hints at much but says nothing, especially in the description of her eyes. The narrator describes their "expression", which he admits is a "word of no meaning". The story also suggests Ligeia is a transcendentalist, a group of people Poe often criticized. Major themes Death of a beautiful woman (see also: "Berenice", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Morella") Resurrection (see also: "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Morella", "Metzengerstein") Substance abuse (see also: "The Black Cat", "Hop-Frog") Film, TV or theatrical adaptations Roger Corman adapted the story into The Tomb of Ligeia in 1964. It would be the last of Corman's eight film adaptations of