Yet unmoulded shroud

Mher · Nov 27, 2014

What does the author mean by saying "yet unmoulded shroud"?
"It was the skeleton of his wife in her yet unmoulded shroud." (http://poestories.com/read/premature)

Raymott · Nov 27, 2014

The shroud hasn't gone mouldy yet.

shjnn3e · Nov 29, 2014

Thanks ...

BobK · Nov 30, 2014

I think Poe may have been aware of a second meaning: his wife had not been buried for long enough for her shroud to be moulded to her form. (A shroud does mould itself to a corpse, but its form becomes clearer as flesh rots away and the bones are exposed.)

b

emsr2d2 · Nov 30, 2014

For me:

Unmoulded = not yet moulded to her body
Unmouldered = has not yet gone mouldy

I should point out that I have never used either word and my spellchecker has underlined both of them, suggesting that neither is in use.

Mher · Dec 1, 2014

BobK said:
I think Poe may have been aware of a second meaning: his wife had not been buried for long enough for her shroud to be moulded to her form. (A shroud does mould itself to a corpse, but its form becomes clearer as flesh rots away and the bones are exposed.)

b

emsr2d2 said:
For me:

Unmoulded = not yet moulded to her body
Unmouldered = has not yet gone mouldy

I should point out that I have never used either word and my spellchecker has underlined both of them, suggesting that neither is in use.

So, as I understand, "to be molded to her body" means to acquire the shape of her body or her skeleton.

BobK · Dec 1, 2014

That's the way I read it - though I don't discount Ray's reading. I've never met 'moulded' in the meaning 'covered in mould', but on the analogy of 'battered fish' it seems possible. There's a third possible meaning, now I think of it: 'mould' could just be a verb (like rot) In horror fiction, writers aren't too worried about tying down a particular/precise/unambiguous meaning - they just want to create in the reader a feeling of distaste/disgust/unease/fear....

b

Mher · Dec 2, 2014

BobK said:
That's the way I read it - though I don't discount Ray's reading. I've never met 'moulded' in the meaning 'covered in mould', but on the analogy of 'battered fish' it seems possible. There's a third possible meaning, now I think of it: 'mould' could just be a verb (like rot) In horror fiction, writers aren't too worried about tying down a particular/precise/unambiguous meaning - they just want to create in the reader a feeling of distaste/disgust/unease/fear....

b

Will stick to your opinion if you read the last part of the next paragraph.
"While thus occupied, she probably swooned, or possibly died, through sheer terror; and, in falling, her shroud became entangled in some iron-work which projected interiorly. Thus she remained, and thus she rotted, erect."

Yet unmoulded shroud

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