Shadow - A Parable

Title: Shadow – A Parable
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Narrator: Jonathan Dunne
Original Publication: 1835
Public Domain: Yes
Series Placement: Number 42 in the Timeless Terrors series
Description:
“Shadow – A Parable” by Edgar Allan Poe is a brief yet profound meditation on death, memory, and the fragile line between the living and the departed. Set amid the aftermath of pestilence, seven figures gather in a dimly lit chamber, haunted by the ghostly presence of a shifting shadow that speaks not to the ear but to the soul.
First published in 1835, this early work reveals Poe’s mastery of atmosphere and allegory — a fusion of Biblical solemnity and gothic despair. The story’s vision of mortality and the dissolution of self foreshadows the existential darkness that would come to define Poe’s later works.
Narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance imbues Poe’s haunting prose with a spectral intensity — a voice that rises from the silence of the grave to whisper of humanity’s inevitable end. While the text is in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne.
Part of Timeless Terrors, a series devoted to resurrecting the masters of the macabre, Shadow – A Parable stands as an eerie meditation on the universality of death — a moment when even the proudest voices of the living fall silent beneath the eternal shadow.