Several Lovecraft poetry volumes have appeared over the years, notably Arkham House's Collected Poems (1963), but here at last is an attractive, scholarly edition that collects every known scrap of verse from the cosmic Yankee's pen. Joshi, author of the definitive biography, Lovecraft: A Life (1996), and editor of the corrected texts of HPL's fiction, has sensibly divided the book thematically: juvenilia, fantasy and horror (a relatively small portion of the whole), occasional verse, satire, seasonal and topographical, amateur affairs, politics and society, and personal. Since Lovecraft's models date no later than his beloved 18th century, his poetry as such (the bulk of it written in his amateur journalist phase, before he hit his stride as a horror writer) contributes nothing to the advancement of the form. With their archaic diction and references to obscure colleagues, some poems are well-nigh unreadable (here Joshi's notes are especially helpful), but Lovecraft's sense of humor (virtually absent in his fiction) surfaces in many lighter poems that require no annotation, while his more serious verse reveals much about his Anglophilic and conservative social and political attitudes as a young man. Also included are Alfredo; A Tragedy, HPL's one play, and a section of fragments, along with a chronology and an index of titles and of first lines. This is an essential tome for every self-respecting Lovecraftian, if for few others.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
H. P. Lovecraft is best known for his fiction, but he spent a great portion of his creative energy on his poetry. The Ancient Track collects the complete poetry of one of the twentieth centuries most iconic writers. The great majority of these poems were written between 1914, and 1920, the period of Lovecraft's heaviest concentration on poetry. Lovecraft's poetry may be regarded as the lesser of is literary output, but it merits collection precisely because it is an important ancillary to his other more well known forms of creative endeavor. Prior to the publication of The Ancient Track, Lovecraft's poetry had been scattered across several different volumes whose textual accuracy has not always been exemplary, while several pomes had been uncollected. "This is an essential tome for every self-respecting Lovecraftian..." - Publishers Weekly
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Several Lovecraft poetry volumes have appeared over the years, notably Arkham House's Collected Poems (1963), but here at last is an attractive, scholarly edition that collects every known scrap of verse from the cosmic Yankee's pen. Joshi, author of the definitive biography, Lovecraft: A Life (1996), and editor of the corrected texts of HPL's fiction, has sensibly divided the book thematically: juvenilia, fantasy and horror (a relatively small portion of the whole), occasional verse, satire, seasonal and topographical, amateur affairs, politics and society, and personal. Since Lovecraft's models date no later than his beloved 18th century, his poetry as such (the bulk of it written in his amateur journalist phase, before he hit his stride as a horror writer) contributes nothing to the advancement of the form. With their archaic diction and references to obscure colleagues, some poems are well-nigh unreadable (here Joshi's notes are especially helpful), but Lovecraft's sense of humor (virtually absent in his fiction) surfaces in many lighter poems that require no annotation, while his more serious verse reveals much about his Anglophilic and conservative social and political attitudes as a young man. Also included are Alfredo; A Tragedy, HPL's one play, and a section of fragments, along with a chronology and an index of titles and of first lines. This is an essential tome for every self-respecting Lovecraftian, if for few others.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
H. P. Lovecraft is best known for his fiction, but he spent a great portion of his creative energy on his poetry. The Ancient Track collects the complete poetry of one of the twentieth centuries most iconic writers. The great majority of these poems were written between 1914, and 1920, the period of Lovecraft's heaviest concentration on poetry. Lovecraft's poetry may be regarded as the lesser of is literary output, but it merits collection precisely because it is an important ancillary to his other more well known forms of creative endeavor. Prior to the publication of The Ancient Track, Lovecraft's poetry had been scattered across several different volumes whose textual accuracy has not always been exemplary, while several pomes had been uncollected. "This is an essential tome for every self-respecting Lovecraftian..." - Publishers Weekly