Poems

[BetsySnow]

Okay, so I haven't really had the time to go through his books and/or stories other than "The Cats of Ulthar," but I have been going through his poems. Now for a project I'm working on, I wanted to include Nemesis, but I'm not quite sure how to describe it. I get the same apathetic God (not the christian one) like feel to it and the great beat. It is scary, and it's has one of my fave lines of his, "Where they roll in their horror unheeded, without knowledge or lustre or name." However, how to describe it???

 

[j d worthington]

Oh, lord, are you sure you want to get me started on that one?

Ahem... first off, what sort of a project are we talking about here? Is this for school? Are you writing this with hope of publication in a journal? etc. Donald R. Burleson wrote a quite nice piece on "Nemesis" some years ago, if you can find it. And I've done a brief, sketchy bit on it myself, which I'm planning on expanding later on. (De Camp's comment to the contrary notwithstanding, it really is a rather evocative and eerie piece of verse.)

So... are you looking for just a description, or would citations of secondary sources help as well?

For the moment, how about going straight to the horse's mouth?

Another recent production of mine, which I will enclose [in a letter to his friend Rheinhart Kleiner of 8 Nov. 1917], has a very different metre & appeal. I think I shall send this piece -- Nemesis -- to The Vagrant, since [W. Paul] Cook seems fond of the unusual. It was written in the sinister small hours of the black morning after Hallowe'en, which may account for the colouring & atmosphere! It presents the conception, tenable to the orthodox mind, that nightmares are the punishment meted out to the soul for sins committed in previous incarnations -- perhaps millions of years ago! The hybrid metre, a cross betwixt that of Poe's Ulalume & Swinburne's Hertha, ought to satisfy the couplet-hating souls of yourself & [Maurice Winter] Mo[e].

-- from Selected Letters I: 1911-1924, pp. 51-59​

If you'd like to discuss this one further, let me know....

EDIT: And, if you haven't guessed -- I'm delighted to see someone taking the Old Gent's poetry into account, since he considered himself a poet during the early years, and even later on (especially 1929-30) he wrote some fine poetry. Most of his poems are anywhere from mediocre to bad (as poetry, though there's always a lot to be gained from them otherwise on varying levels; this is where his intense love of the 18th-century versifiers tripped him up most often), but when he did hit it right, he really hit it right!

And how can you beat that opening (and closing) stanza:

"Through the ghoul-guarded gateways of slumber,
Past the wan-mooned abysses of night,
I have lived o'er my lives without number,
I have sounded all things with my sight;
And I struggle and shriek ere the daybreak, being driven to madness with fright."

 

[BetsySnow]

Yeah, out of his other ones I like The Cats and Nemesis. I wrote about it already, it was a project on seemingly obscure poetry. I already presented it though, but I'll still look into the article thanks!

 

[Nesacat]

Am very glad to see someone reading Lovecraft's poetry and you've read Cats of Ulthar as well.

He's a good poet and there are some beautiful lines and images in his verse that stay in your mind.

Like his prose, the Old Gent's love for words and the vivid pictures they can paint comes through in his poetry as well.

 

[ghyle]

G'day!

There is a book in the works on the poetic circle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is about to go to the publishers: problem is one of the essayists stepped out at the last minute, and I am replacing him on the Wandrei essay.

You may also be interested to note that there is a concordance of Lovecraft's poetry in the wings as well. It is proceeding slowly, as there are too many competing works taking my time, but it is getting there. The texts used are those in The Ancient Track... with one exception. That is a poem which had been considered lost, but which was recently found in a British apazine by an EOD member.

I am also working on the preliminaries for the first book-length study of Lovecraft's poetry.

 

[j d worthington]

G'day!

There is a book in the works on the poetic circle of H. P. Lovecraft. It is about to go to the publishers: problem is one of the essayists stepped out at the last minute, and I am replacing him on the Wandrei essay.

You may also be interested to note that there is a concordance of Lovecraft's poetry in the wings as well. It is proceeding slowly, as there are too many competing works taking my time, but it is getting there. The texts used are those in The Ancient Track... with one exception. That is a poem which had been considered lost, but which was recently found in a British apazine by an EOD member.

I am also working on the preliminaries for the first book-length study of Lovecraft's poetry.

Ghyle: I would be very interested in hearing more about this; I've done some notes toward analyses of some of his poems myself, and am curious what approach you're taking (I'm quite fond of literary criticism myself); so I'd appreciate you keeping us posted on this one! By the way... I'm pretty sure I know which poem this is that's been found -- would you mind giving the title? Thanks.

 

[ghyle]

The poem is "An American to the British Flag".

Briefly, the book consists of essays about the major poets of Lovecraft's circle, and an essay covering many of the minor poets. I have written the chapter on Lovecraft, and (as co-editor) the introduction and that final essay about the lesser poets, and I am also working on the essay about Donald Wandrei.

Briefly, each essay looks proimarily at the poet and the poetry, with each essayist bringing out different aspects according to their concerns. The Lovecraft one expands pretty much on the consensus of the poetry, whilst not quoting at length from it (I decided on a general overview at the time), and the Wandrei piece will be focussed upon close readings of the poems, looking at technical and thematic aspects. The Barlow piece by Massimo Berruti is brilliant; I am pleased like nothing else to be able to provide it.

It will be coming out through Mythos Books.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, that was the one I thought, all right. Good to know that one has been found... I'd like to see a copy of it, as it was only recently I had to pass that one over when doing a reading of his work of that period.

I like the sound of the essays; some good approaches there, and I would expect it'll provide plenty of new ways to look at these poets -- and it's so good to see these writers being put in context at last; my feeling is that this is going to add a great deal to our understanding of them both separately and as a group. As someone who is very interested in the scholarship concerning these writers (especially HPL), my thanks for adding to the growing body of work which provides such valuable insights!

 

[ghyle]

There will be some reprints of essays by Lovecraft himself; the contents are as follows:

Introduction: H. P. Lovecraft and His Poetic Circle
Phillip A. Ellis and Benjamin Szumskyj

H. P. Lovecraft: A Transient Speck in Wide Infinity
Phillip A. Ellis

The Sensitive Lovecraft: Robert H. Barlow and the Poetry of Conflicts
Massimo Berruti

Preface to White Fire by John Ravenor Bullen
H. P. Lovecraft

August Derleth: To Speak a Word for Wiseness
John Howard

Introduction to The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag
H. P. Lovecraft

Robert E. Howard: The Flame and the Shadow
Frank Coffman

Frank Belknap Long as Poet
Donald R. Burleson, Ph.D.

Samuel Loveman: Faun in Brooklyn
S. T. Joshi

Clark Ashton Smith: Poet of the Stars
Martin Andersson

[Donald Wandrei: Phillip A. Ellis]

Echoes from Pan’s Flute: The Lesser Poets of Lovecraft’s Poetic Circle
Phillip A. Ellis and Benjamin Szumskyj

 

[j d worthington]

That does sound like a meaty selection. I look forward to seeing it, and I've noted your name with some of the critical work being done; very glad to see you on here!

 

[Ningauble]

There will be some reprints of essays by Lovecraft himself; the contents are as follows:

[snip]

Clark Ashton Smith: Poet of the Stars
Martin Andersson

Looklooklook! It's me!

 

[j d worthington]

Looklooklook! It's me!

LOL! Welcome aboard, Martin!

 

[j d worthington]

Well, I was thinking of starting up a new thread on the subject, but decided to just revive this one, albeit in a somewhat different direction....

I realize a lot of people who have read Lovecraft haven't read his verse, and even those who have often don't feel qualified to comment -- a frequent feeling when it comes to commenting on verse of any kind these days, as there has been a massive disconnect between people in general and the realm of poetry... a discussion for another time, perhaps.

However, of those who have, I'd be interested in their responses. I'm not looking for technical points (though if you feel like tackling that, I'd certainly encourage such), but more feedback about other things: which of his poems did you find to be effective (and this isn't only restricted to his fantastic or horrific poetry, but any of it anyone wishes to comment on); what sorts of connections do any of you perhaps see between his verse and his fiction, whether thematically, in the use of imagery, as a possible "dry-run" for a tale (or fragment: cf. the first three Fungi from Yuggoth and the unfinished tale, "The Book", for instance); or in any other ways you find interesting.

I'm hoping there will be enough out there who have at least sampled this aspect of his work and who will be interested in engaging in some discussion, as I think it still, regretfully, remains a largely unexplored area with such conversations.

So... any thoughts?

 

[Ningauble]

So... any thoughts?

I'm somewhat familiar with HPL's poetry. I haven't read it all yet, but intend to do so eventually as part of my forthcoming "Read all of HPL's fiction, poetry, and essays in chronological order" project.