What do you think?
Rate this book
The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works
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 poems had been uncollected.
"The Ancient Track"
By H. P. Lovecraft
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track
Over the hill, and strained to see
The fields that teased my memory.
This tree, that wall-I knew them well,
And all the roofs and orchards fell
Familiarly upon my mind
As from a past not far behind.
I knew what shadows would be cast
When the late moon came up at last
From back of Zaman's Hill, and how
The vale would shine three hours from now.
And when the path grew steep and high,
And seemed to end against the sky,
I had no fear of what might rest
Beyond that silhouetted crest.
Straight on I walked, while all the night
Grew pale with phosphorescent light,
And wall and farmhouse gable glowed
Unearthly by the climbing road.
There was the milestone that I knew-
"Two miles to Dunwich"-now the view
Of distant spire and roofs would dawn
With ten more upward paces gone. . . .
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track,
And reached the crest to see outspread
A valley of the lost and dead:
And over Zaman's Hill the horn
Of a malignant moon was born,
To light the weeds and vines that grew
On ruined walls I never knew.
The fox-fire glowed in field and bog,
And unknown waters spewed a fog
Whose curling talons mocked the thought
That I had ever known this spot.
Too well I saw from the mad scene
That my loved past had never been-
Nor was I now upon the trail
Descending to that long-dead vale.
Around was fog-ahead, the spray
Of star-streams in the Milky Way. . . .
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
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 poems had been uncollected.
"The Ancient Track"
By H. P. Lovecraft
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track
Over the hill, and strained to see
The fields that teased my memory.
This tree, that wall-I knew them well,
And all the roofs and orchards fell
Familiarly upon my mind
As from a past not far behind.
I knew what shadows would be cast
When the late moon came up at last
From back of Zaman's Hill, and how
The vale would shine three hours from now.
And when the path grew steep and high,
And seemed to end against the sky,
I had no fear of what might rest
Beyond that silhouetted crest.
Straight on I walked, while all the night
Grew pale with phosphorescent light,
And wall and farmhouse gable glowed
Unearthly by the climbing road.
There was the milestone that I knew-
"Two miles to Dunwich"-now the view
Of distant spire and roofs would dawn
With ten more upward paces gone. . . .
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track,
And reached the crest to see outspread
A valley of the lost and dead:
And over Zaman's Hill the horn
Of a malignant moon was born,
To light the weeds and vines that grew
On ruined walls I never knew.
The fox-fire glowed in field and bog,
And unknown waters spewed a fog
Whose curling talons mocked the thought
That I had ever known this spot.
Too well I saw from the mad scene
That my loved past had never been-
Nor was I now upon the trail
Descending to that long-dead vale.
Around was fog-ahead, the spray
Of star-streams in the Milky Way. . . .
There was no hand to hold me back
That night I found the ancient track.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
557 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
11 people are currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
6,110 books19.2k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 19, 2021
I. Juvenilia: 1897–1905
[rated with author's youth in mind]
The Poem of Ulysses, or The Odyssey 3⭐
Ovid’s Metamorphoses 2.25⭐
H. Lovecraft’s Attempted Journey betwixt Providence & Fall River on the N.Y.N.H. & H.R.R. 2⭐
Poemata Minora, Volume II
Ode to Selene or Diana 3⭐
To the Old Pagan Religion 3⭐
On the Ruin of Rome 2⭐
To Pan 2⭐
On the Vanity of Human Ambition 2.25⭐
C.S.A. 1861–1865 2.5⭐
De Triumpho Naturae 1⭐
II. Fantasy and Horror
To the Late John H. Fowler, Esq. 3⭐
The Unknown 3⭐
The Poe-et’s Nightmare 4.5⭐
The Rutted Road 5⭐
Nemesis 4⭐
Astrophobos 3⭐
Psychopompos: A Tale in Rhyme 4⭐
The Eidolon 4⭐
A Cycle of Verse
Oceanus 3.5⭐
Clouds 4⭐
Mother Earth 3.5⭐
Despair 4⭐
Revelation 4⭐
The House 4⭐
The City 4⭐
To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany 3⭐
Bells 4.5⭐
The Nightmare Lake 5⭐
On Reading Lord Dunsany’s Book of Wonder 4⭐
To a Dreamer 4⭐
With a Copy of Wilde’s Fairy Tales 3⭐
[On The Thing in the Woods by Harper Williams] 2.5⭐
The Cats 4.5⭐
Primavera 3.75⭐
Festival 4.25⭐
Hallowe’en in a Suburb 5⭐
[On Ambrose Bierce] 3⭐
The Wood 4⭐
The Outpost 4.5⭐
The Ancient Track 5⭐
The Messenger 4⭐
Fungi from Yuggoth (which includes the following 36 sonnets) 5⭐
I. The Book
II. Pursuit
III. The Key
IV, Recognition
V. Homecoming
VI. The Lamp
VII. Zaman’s Hill
VIII.The Port
IX. The Courtyard
X. The Pigeon-Flyers
XI. The Well
XII. The Howler
XIII. Hesperia
XIV. Star-Winds
XV. Antarktos
XVI. The Window
XVII. A Memory
XVIII. The Gardens of Yin
XIX. The Bells
XX. Night-Gaunts
XXI. Nyarlathotep
XXII. Azathoth
XXIII. Mirage
XXIV. The Canal
XXV. St. Toad’s
XXVI. The Familiars
XXVII. The Elder Pharos
XXVIII. Expectancy
XXIX. Nostalgia
XXX. Background
XXI. The Dweller
XXXII. Alienation
XXXIII. Harbour Whistles
XXXIV. Recapture
XXXV. Evening Star
XXXVI. Continuity
Bouts Rimés
Beyond Zimbabwe 2.5⭐
The White Elephant 2.5⭐
In a Sequester’d Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk’d 4.5⭐
To Mr. Finlay, upon His Drawing for Mr. Bloch’s Tale, “The Faceless God” 4⭐
To Clark Ashton Smith, Esq., upon His Phantastick Tales, Verses, Pictures, and Sculptures 3⭐
Nathicana 3.75⭐
III. Occasional Verse
The Members of the Men’s Club of the First Universalist Church of Providence, R.I., to Its President, About to Leave for Florida on Account of His Health 2.5⭐
To Mr. Terhune, on His Historical Fiction 3⭐
To Mr. Munroe, on His Instructive and Entertaining Account of Switzerland 2⭐
Regner Lodbrog’s Epicedium 3⭐
To an Accomplished Young Gentlewoman on Her Birthday, Decr. 2, 1914 2⭐
To the Recipient of This Volume 3⭐
On Receiving a Picture of Swans 3.5⭐
To Charlie of the Comics 2.5⭐
On the Cowboys of the West 2.5⭐
To Samuel Loveman, Esquire, on His Poetry and Drama, Writ in the Elizabethan Style 3⭐
The Bookstall 3⭐
Content 3.5⭐
The Smile 3.75⭐
Inspiration 3.25⭐
Respite 3⭐
Brotherhood 3⭐
Lines on Graduation from the R.I. Hospital’s School of Nurses 3⭐
Fact and Fancy 3.5⭐
Percival Lowell 2.5⭐
Prologue to “Fragments from an Hour of Inspiration” by Jonathan E. Hoag 3⭐
Earth and Sky 3.25⭐
To M. W. M. 2⭐
Lines on the 25th. Anniversary of the Providence Evening News, 1892–1917 2.5⭐
To the Nurses of the Red Cross 3⭐
To the Arcadian 2⭐
Laeta; A Lament 4.5⭐
To Mr. Kleiner, on Receiving from Him the Poetical Works of Addison, Gay, and Somerville 2⭐
A Pastoral Tragedy of Appleton, Wisconsin 2.75⭐
Damon and Delia, a Pastoral 3.5⭐
To Delia, Avoiding Damon 3.5⭐
Hellas 2.75⭐
Ambition 3⭐
To Alfred Galpin, Esq. 3⭐
To the Eighth of November 2.5⭐
Damon: A Monody 3⭐
Hylas and Myrrha: A Tale 4⭐
John Oldham: A Defence 2.5⭐
Myrrha and Strephon 3⭐
Wisdom 2.5⭐
Birthday Lines to Margfred Galbraham 2⭐
Tryout’s Lament for the Vanished Spider 2.5⭐
Cindy: Scrub-Lady in a State Street Skyscraper 1.5⭐
The Voice 3⭐
On a Grecian Colonnade in a Park 3⭐
The Dream 3⭐
On Receiving a Portraiture of Mrs. Berkeley, ye Poetess 2.5⭐
To a Youth 3.5⭐
On the Return of Maurice Winter Moe, Esq., to the Pedagogical Profession 2.5⭐
To Mr. Galpin 2.5⭐
Sir Thomas Tryout 3⭐
To Damon 3.5⭐
To Rheinhart Kleiner, Esq. 3.25⭐
Chloris and Damon 3⭐
To Endymion 3.5⭐
To Mr. Baldwin, on Receiving a Picture of Him in a Rural Bower 2⭐
Damon and Lycë 3.25⭐
[On the Pyramids] 1.5⭐
[Stanzas on Samarkand] 3⭐
[On Rheinhart Kleiner Being Hit by an Automobile] 2.5⭐
To Samuel Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
To Saml Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
To George Kirk, Esq. 2⭐
My Favorite Character 2⭐
[On the Double-R Coffee House] 3⭐
[To Frank Belknap Long on His Birthday] 3⭐
A Year Off 3⭐
To an Infant 3.5⭐
To George Willard Kirk, Gent., of Chelsea-Village, in New-York, upon His Birthday, Novr. 25, 1925 3⭐
[On Old Grimes by Albert Gorton Greene] 1.5⭐
In Memoriam: Oscar Incoul Verelst of Manhattan 2⭐
The Return 2.25⭐
Hedone 2.5⭐
To Miss Beryl Hoyt 3⭐
To a Sophisticated Young Gentleman 2.5⭐
Veteropinguis Redivivus 3⭐
To a Young Poet in Dunedin 3⭐
[Metrical Example] 2⭐
The Odes of Horace: Book III, ix 2.75⭐
Gaudeamus 3⭐
The Greatest Law 4⭐
[Sonnet Study] 2.75⭐
To Saml Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
Verses Designed to Be Sent by a Friend of the Author to His Brother-in-Law on New Year’s Day 2.25⭐
[Last of an elder race . . .] 3.5⭐
[’Tis a sprig of green shamrock . . .] 3.5⭐
IV. Satire
Providence in 2000 A.D. 3⭐
Fragment on Whitman 2⭐
[On Robert Browning] 2⭐
Ad Criticos 3⭐
Frustra Praemunitus 2.5⭐
De Scriptore Mulieroso 2⭐
On a Modern Lothario 2⭐
The End of the Jackson War 2⭐
Gryphus in Asinum Mutatus 4⭐
The Power of Wine: A Satire 3.5⭐
The Simple Speller’s Tale 3⭐
[On Slang] 2⭐
Ye Ballade of Patrick von Flynn 3⭐
The Isaacsonio-Mortoniad 2.5⭐
Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea 5⭐
[On “Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea”] 2⭐
Gems from In a Minor Key 2⭐
The State of Poetry 3⭐
The Magazine Poet 3⭐
My Lost Love 3⭐
The Beauties of Peace 3⭐
Epitaph on ye Letterr Rrr. . . . . . . 3⭐
The Dead Bookworm 3⭐
Ad Balneum 3⭐
[On Kelso the Poet] 2⭐
Futurist Art 2.5⭐
The Nymph’s Reply to the Modern Business Man 2.5⭐
The Poet of Passion 2.5⭐
On the Death of a Rhyming Critic 2.5⭐
To the Incomparable Clorinda 2.5⭐
To Saccharissa, Fairest of Her Sex 2.5⭐
To Rhodoclia—Peerless among Maidens 2.5⭐
To Belinda, Favourite of the Graces 2⭐
To Heliodora—Sister of Cytheraea 2⭐
To Mistress Sophia Simple, Queen of the Cinema 3⭐
The Introduction 2⭐
Grace 3⭐
To Col. Linkaby Didd 2⭐
Amissa Minerva 3⭐
[On Prohibition] 1⭐
Monody on the Late King Alcohol 3⭐
The Pensive Swain 2⭐
To Phillis 2⭐
The Poet’s Rash Excuse 2⭐
On Religion 3⭐
The Pathetick History of Sir Wilful Wildrake 3⭐
Medusa: A Portrait 3.5⭐
Simplicity: A Poem 3⭐
Plaster-All 2⭐
To Zara 3.5⭐
Waste Paper 4⭐
[On a Politician] 1⭐
[On a Room for Rent] 1⭐
[On J. F. Roy Erford] 1.5⭐
Lines upon the Magnates of the Pulp 2.5⭐
Dead Passion’s Flame 3⭐
Arcadia 2.5⭐
Lullaby for the Dionne Quintuplets 1⭐
The Decline and Fall of a Man of the World 3⭐
[Epigrams] (for the following six verses) 1⭐
On a Poem for Children, Writ by J. M. W.
On ———’s Gaining in Weight
Lines on a Dull Writer Having Insomnia
On a Pathetick Poem, by J. M. W.
Idle Lines on a Poetick Dunce
On the Habit of Letter-Writing
Life’s Mystery 3.25⭐
On Mr. L. Phillips Howard’s Profound Poem Entitled “Life’s Mystery” 2.5⭐
On an Accomplished Young Linguist 2.5⭐
“The Poetical Punch” Pushed from His Pedestal 2.5⭐
The Road to Ruin 1.5⭐
Sors Poetae 3⭐
V. Seasonal and Topographical
Quinsnicket Park 3.5⭐
New England 3.5⭐
March 4⭐
A Mississippi Autumn 3.25⭐
A Rural Summer Eve 3.5⭐
Brumalia 3.25⭐
On Receiving a Picture of the Marshes at Ipswich 2.5⭐
A Garden 4.5⭐
April 3.5⭐
On Receiving a Picture of ye Towne of Templeton, in the Colonie of Massachusetts-Bay, with Mount Monadnock, in New-Hampshire, Shewn in the Distance 3⭐
Autumn 3.5⭐
Sunset 4.5⭐
Old Christmas 4⭐
A Summer Sunset and Evening 3.5⭐
A Winter Wish 3.5⭐
Ver Rusticum 3.5⭐
A June Afternoon 3.25⭐
The Spirit of Summer 3.5⭐
August 3.5⭐
Spring 3⭐
April Dawn 3.25⭐
January 3.5⭐
October 5⭐
Christmas 4⭐
[On Marblehead] 4.25⭐
[On a Scene in Rural Rhode Island] 2.5⭐
Providence 3.5⭐
Solstice 3.25⭐
October 4.25⭐
[On Newport, Rhode Island] 2⭐
The East India Brick Row 3⭐
On an Unspoil’d Rural Prospect 3⭐
Saturnalia 3.25⭐
[Christmas Greetings (112)] (A lot of these sayings would make great Hallmark Card Christmas Greetings!) 3.25⭐
To Eugene B. Kuntz et al. 2⭐
To Laurie A. Sawyer 1⭐
To Sonia H. Greene 2⭐
To Rheinhart Kleiner 2⭐
To Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s Cat) 3⭐
To Annie E.P. Gamwell 2⭐
To Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s Cat) 3.25⭐
VI. Amateur Affairs
To the Members of the Pin-Feathers on the Merits of Their Organisation, and of Their New Publication, The Pinfeather 2.5⭐
To the Rev. James Pyke 2⭐
To the Members of the United Amateur Press Association from the Providence Amateur Press Club 2.5⭐
The Bay-Stater’s Policy 1⭐
R. Kleiner, Laureatus, in Heliconem 1⭐
Providence Amateur Press Club (Deceased) to the Athenaeum Club of Journalism 3⭐
To Mr. Lockhart, on His Poetry 2.25⭐
To Jonathan E. Hoag, Esq. 2.75⭐
To Arthur Goodenough, Esq. 2.5⭐
To the Eighth of November 2.25⭐
To the A.H.S.P.C., on Receipt of the Christmas Pippin 2⭐
Greetings 2⭐
To Jonathan Hoag, Esq. 2.5⭐
In Memoriam: J. E. T. D. 2.5⭐
To the A.H.S.P.C., on Receipt of the May Pippin 2⭐
Helene Hoffman Cole: 1893–1919 3⭐
On Collaboration 3⭐
Birthday Lines to Margfred Galbraham 1.5⭐
Ad Scribam 3⭐
Ex-Poet’s Reply 2.5⭐
To Two 2.5⭐
Theobaldian Aestivation 2.75⭐
The Prophecy of Capys Secundus 3⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.25⭐
On a Poet’s Ninety-first Birthday 2.5⭐
To Saml: Loveman, Gent. 2.25⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.25⭐
The Feast 3⭐
Lines for Poets’ Night at the Scribblers’ Club 3⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.75⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.75⭐
To Jonathan Hoag 2.75⭐
To Jonathan E. Hoag, Esq. 2.5⭐
The Absent Leader 3⭐
Ave atque Vale 3⭐
To “The Scribblers” 3⭐
VII. Politics and Society
New-England Fallen 2.5⭐
On the Creation of Niggers 0⭐
On a New-England Village Seen by Moonlight 2.5⭐
To General Villa 1⭐
The Teuton’s Battle-Song 3⭐
1914 3⭐
The Crime of Crimes 3⭐
An American to Mother England 3.25⭐
Temperance Song 2.25⭐
The Rose of England 3⭐
Lines on Gen. Robert Edward Lee 3.5⭐
Britannia Victura 2.5⭐
Pacifist War Song—1917 2.75⭐
Iterum Conjunctae 2.5⭐
The Peace Advocate 4⭐
To Greece, 1917 3⭐
Ode for July Fourth, 1917 3.5⭐
*An American to the British Flag [the text of the poem was discovered after the publication of the first and second editions of the book, only the 2013 edition contains this work; here the title appears for bibliographic order, basically meaning this poem was not in my August 2005 edition]
The Volunteer 2⭐
Ad Britannos—1918 3⭐
On a Battlefield in Picardy 3.5⭐
The Link 3⭐
To Alan Seeger 2⭐
Germania—1918 3⭐
The Conscript 4⭐
To Maj.-Gen. Omar Bundy, U.S.A. 3.25⭐
Theodore Roosevelt 3⭐
North and South Britons 3⭐
VIII. Personal
[To His Mother on Thanksgiving] 2⭐
An Elegy on Franklin Chase Clark, M.D. 2.75⭐
[The Solace of Georgian Poetry] 2⭐
[On Phillips Gamwell] 1.5⭐
An Elegy on Phillips Gamwell, Esq. 2.75⭐
Sonnet on Myself 3⭐
Phaeton 2.5⭐
Monos: An Ode 3⭐
Oct. 17, 1919 2.5⭐
To S. S. L.—Oct. 17, 1920 2⭐
S. S. L.: Christmas 1920 2.75⭐
To Xanthippe, on Her Birthday—March 16, 1925 3⭐
Είς Σφίγγην 1⭐
[On Cheating the Post Office] 1⭐
An Epistle to the Rt. Honble Maurice Winter Moe, Esq. 2.75⭐
[Anthem of the Kappa Alpha Tau] 1⭐
Edith Miniter 3⭐
[Little Sam Perkins] 3⭐
IX. Alfredo; A Tragedy 3.25⭐
X. Fragments 3.75⭐
The Poem of Ulysses, or The Odyssey 3⭐
Ovid’s Metamorphoses 2.25⭐
H. Lovecraft’s Attempted Journey betwixt Providence & Fall River on the N.Y.N.H. & H.R.R. 2⭐
Poemata Minora, Volume II
Ode to Selene or Diana 3⭐
To the Old Pagan Religion 3⭐
On the Ruin of Rome 2⭐
To Pan 2⭐
On the Vanity of Human Ambition 2.25⭐
C.S.A. 1861–1865 2.5⭐
De Triumpho Naturae 1⭐
II. Fantasy and Horror
To the Late John H. Fowler, Esq. 3⭐
The Unknown 3⭐
The Poe-et’s Nightmare 4.5⭐
The Rutted Road 5⭐
Nemesis 4⭐
Astrophobos 3⭐
Psychopompos: A Tale in Rhyme 4⭐
The Eidolon 4⭐
A Cycle of Verse
Oceanus 3.5⭐
Clouds 4⭐
Mother Earth 3.5⭐
Despair 4⭐
Revelation 4⭐
The House 4⭐
The City 4⭐
To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany 3⭐
Bells 4.5⭐
The Nightmare Lake 5⭐
On Reading Lord Dunsany’s Book of Wonder 4⭐
To a Dreamer 4⭐
With a Copy of Wilde’s Fairy Tales 3⭐
[On The Thing in the Woods by Harper Williams] 2.5⭐
The Cats 4.5⭐
Primavera 3.75⭐
Festival 4.25⭐
Hallowe’en in a Suburb 5⭐
[On Ambrose Bierce] 3⭐
The Wood 4⭐
The Outpost 4.5⭐
The Ancient Track 5⭐
The Messenger 4⭐
Fungi from Yuggoth (which includes the following 36 sonnets) 5⭐
I. The Book
II. Pursuit
III. The Key
IV, Recognition
V. Homecoming
VI. The Lamp
VII. Zaman’s Hill
VIII.The Port
IX. The Courtyard
X. The Pigeon-Flyers
XI. The Well
XII. The Howler
XIII. Hesperia
XIV. Star-Winds
XV. Antarktos
XVI. The Window
XVII. A Memory
XVIII. The Gardens of Yin
XIX. The Bells
XX. Night-Gaunts
XXI. Nyarlathotep
XXII. Azathoth
XXIII. Mirage
XXIV. The Canal
XXV. St. Toad’s
XXVI. The Familiars
XXVII. The Elder Pharos
XXVIII. Expectancy
XXIX. Nostalgia
XXX. Background
XXI. The Dweller
XXXII. Alienation
XXXIII. Harbour Whistles
XXXIV. Recapture
XXXV. Evening Star
XXXVI. Continuity
Bouts Rimés
Beyond Zimbabwe 2.5⭐
The White Elephant 2.5⭐
In a Sequester’d Providence Churchyard Where Once Poe Walk’d 4.5⭐
To Mr. Finlay, upon His Drawing for Mr. Bloch’s Tale, “The Faceless God” 4⭐
To Clark Ashton Smith, Esq., upon His Phantastick Tales, Verses, Pictures, and Sculptures 3⭐
Nathicana 3.75⭐
III. Occasional Verse
The Members of the Men’s Club of the First Universalist Church of Providence, R.I., to Its President, About to Leave for Florida on Account of His Health 2.5⭐
To Mr. Terhune, on His Historical Fiction 3⭐
To Mr. Munroe, on His Instructive and Entertaining Account of Switzerland 2⭐
Regner Lodbrog’s Epicedium 3⭐
To an Accomplished Young Gentlewoman on Her Birthday, Decr. 2, 1914 2⭐
To the Recipient of This Volume 3⭐
On Receiving a Picture of Swans 3.5⭐
To Charlie of the Comics 2.5⭐
On the Cowboys of the West 2.5⭐
To Samuel Loveman, Esquire, on His Poetry and Drama, Writ in the Elizabethan Style 3⭐
The Bookstall 3⭐
Content 3.5⭐
The Smile 3.75⭐
Inspiration 3.25⭐
Respite 3⭐
Brotherhood 3⭐
Lines on Graduation from the R.I. Hospital’s School of Nurses 3⭐
Fact and Fancy 3.5⭐
Percival Lowell 2.5⭐
Prologue to “Fragments from an Hour of Inspiration” by Jonathan E. Hoag 3⭐
Earth and Sky 3.25⭐
To M. W. M. 2⭐
Lines on the 25th. Anniversary of the Providence Evening News, 1892–1917 2.5⭐
To the Nurses of the Red Cross 3⭐
To the Arcadian 2⭐
Laeta; A Lament 4.5⭐
To Mr. Kleiner, on Receiving from Him the Poetical Works of Addison, Gay, and Somerville 2⭐
A Pastoral Tragedy of Appleton, Wisconsin 2.75⭐
Damon and Delia, a Pastoral 3.5⭐
To Delia, Avoiding Damon 3.5⭐
Hellas 2.75⭐
Ambition 3⭐
To Alfred Galpin, Esq. 3⭐
To the Eighth of November 2.5⭐
Damon: A Monody 3⭐
Hylas and Myrrha: A Tale 4⭐
John Oldham: A Defence 2.5⭐
Myrrha and Strephon 3⭐
Wisdom 2.5⭐
Birthday Lines to Margfred Galbraham 2⭐
Tryout’s Lament for the Vanished Spider 2.5⭐
Cindy: Scrub-Lady in a State Street Skyscraper 1.5⭐
The Voice 3⭐
On a Grecian Colonnade in a Park 3⭐
The Dream 3⭐
On Receiving a Portraiture of Mrs. Berkeley, ye Poetess 2.5⭐
To a Youth 3.5⭐
On the Return of Maurice Winter Moe, Esq., to the Pedagogical Profession 2.5⭐
To Mr. Galpin 2.5⭐
Sir Thomas Tryout 3⭐
To Damon 3.5⭐
To Rheinhart Kleiner, Esq. 3.25⭐
Chloris and Damon 3⭐
To Endymion 3.5⭐
To Mr. Baldwin, on Receiving a Picture of Him in a Rural Bower 2⭐
Damon and Lycë 3.25⭐
[On the Pyramids] 1.5⭐
[Stanzas on Samarkand] 3⭐
[On Rheinhart Kleiner Being Hit by an Automobile] 2.5⭐
To Samuel Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
To Saml Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
To George Kirk, Esq. 2⭐
My Favorite Character 2⭐
[On the Double-R Coffee House] 3⭐
[To Frank Belknap Long on His Birthday] 3⭐
A Year Off 3⭐
To an Infant 3.5⭐
To George Willard Kirk, Gent., of Chelsea-Village, in New-York, upon His Birthday, Novr. 25, 1925 3⭐
[On Old Grimes by Albert Gorton Greene] 1.5⭐
In Memoriam: Oscar Incoul Verelst of Manhattan 2⭐
The Return 2.25⭐
Hedone 2.5⭐
To Miss Beryl Hoyt 3⭐
To a Sophisticated Young Gentleman 2.5⭐
Veteropinguis Redivivus 3⭐
To a Young Poet in Dunedin 3⭐
[Metrical Example] 2⭐
The Odes of Horace: Book III, ix 2.75⭐
Gaudeamus 3⭐
The Greatest Law 4⭐
[Sonnet Study] 2.75⭐
To Saml Loveman Esq. 2.75⭐
Verses Designed to Be Sent by a Friend of the Author to His Brother-in-Law on New Year’s Day 2.25⭐
[Last of an elder race . . .] 3.5⭐
[’Tis a sprig of green shamrock . . .] 3.5⭐
IV. Satire
Providence in 2000 A.D. 3⭐
Fragment on Whitman 2⭐
[On Robert Browning] 2⭐
Ad Criticos 3⭐
Frustra Praemunitus 2.5⭐
De Scriptore Mulieroso 2⭐
On a Modern Lothario 2⭐
The End of the Jackson War 2⭐
Gryphus in Asinum Mutatus 4⭐
The Power of Wine: A Satire 3.5⭐
The Simple Speller’s Tale 3⭐
[On Slang] 2⭐
Ye Ballade of Patrick von Flynn 3⭐
The Isaacsonio-Mortoniad 2.5⭐
Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea 5⭐
[On “Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea”] 2⭐
Gems from In a Minor Key 2⭐
The State of Poetry 3⭐
The Magazine Poet 3⭐
My Lost Love 3⭐
The Beauties of Peace 3⭐
Epitaph on ye Letterr Rrr. . . . . . . 3⭐
The Dead Bookworm 3⭐
Ad Balneum 3⭐
[On Kelso the Poet] 2⭐
Futurist Art 2.5⭐
The Nymph’s Reply to the Modern Business Man 2.5⭐
The Poet of Passion 2.5⭐
On the Death of a Rhyming Critic 2.5⭐
To the Incomparable Clorinda 2.5⭐
To Saccharissa, Fairest of Her Sex 2.5⭐
To Rhodoclia—Peerless among Maidens 2.5⭐
To Belinda, Favourite of the Graces 2⭐
To Heliodora—Sister of Cytheraea 2⭐
To Mistress Sophia Simple, Queen of the Cinema 3⭐
The Introduction 2⭐
Grace 3⭐
To Col. Linkaby Didd 2⭐
Amissa Minerva 3⭐
[On Prohibition] 1⭐
Monody on the Late King Alcohol 3⭐
The Pensive Swain 2⭐
To Phillis 2⭐
The Poet’s Rash Excuse 2⭐
On Religion 3⭐
The Pathetick History of Sir Wilful Wildrake 3⭐
Medusa: A Portrait 3.5⭐
Simplicity: A Poem 3⭐
Plaster-All 2⭐
To Zara 3.5⭐
Waste Paper 4⭐
[On a Politician] 1⭐
[On a Room for Rent] 1⭐
[On J. F. Roy Erford] 1.5⭐
Lines upon the Magnates of the Pulp 2.5⭐
Dead Passion’s Flame 3⭐
Arcadia 2.5⭐
Lullaby for the Dionne Quintuplets 1⭐
The Decline and Fall of a Man of the World 3⭐
[Epigrams] (for the following six verses) 1⭐
On a Poem for Children, Writ by J. M. W.
On ———’s Gaining in Weight
Lines on a Dull Writer Having Insomnia
On a Pathetick Poem, by J. M. W.
Idle Lines on a Poetick Dunce
On the Habit of Letter-Writing
Life’s Mystery 3.25⭐
On Mr. L. Phillips Howard’s Profound Poem Entitled “Life’s Mystery” 2.5⭐
On an Accomplished Young Linguist 2.5⭐
“The Poetical Punch” Pushed from His Pedestal 2.5⭐
The Road to Ruin 1.5⭐
Sors Poetae 3⭐
V. Seasonal and Topographical
Quinsnicket Park 3.5⭐
New England 3.5⭐
March 4⭐
A Mississippi Autumn 3.25⭐
A Rural Summer Eve 3.5⭐
Brumalia 3.25⭐
On Receiving a Picture of the Marshes at Ipswich 2.5⭐
A Garden 4.5⭐
April 3.5⭐
On Receiving a Picture of ye Towne of Templeton, in the Colonie of Massachusetts-Bay, with Mount Monadnock, in New-Hampshire, Shewn in the Distance 3⭐
Autumn 3.5⭐
Sunset 4.5⭐
Old Christmas 4⭐
A Summer Sunset and Evening 3.5⭐
A Winter Wish 3.5⭐
Ver Rusticum 3.5⭐
A June Afternoon 3.25⭐
The Spirit of Summer 3.5⭐
August 3.5⭐
Spring 3⭐
April Dawn 3.25⭐
January 3.5⭐
October 5⭐
Christmas 4⭐
[On Marblehead] 4.25⭐
[On a Scene in Rural Rhode Island] 2.5⭐
Providence 3.5⭐
Solstice 3.25⭐
October 4.25⭐
[On Newport, Rhode Island] 2⭐
The East India Brick Row 3⭐
On an Unspoil’d Rural Prospect 3⭐
Saturnalia 3.25⭐
[Christmas Greetings (112)] (A lot of these sayings would make great Hallmark Card Christmas Greetings!) 3.25⭐
To Eugene B. Kuntz et al. 2⭐
To Laurie A. Sawyer 1⭐
To Sonia H. Greene 2⭐
To Rheinhart Kleiner 2⭐
To Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s Cat) 3⭐
To Annie E.P. Gamwell 2⭐
To Felis (Frank Belknap Long’s Cat) 3.25⭐
VI. Amateur Affairs
To the Members of the Pin-Feathers on the Merits of Their Organisation, and of Their New Publication, The Pinfeather 2.5⭐
To the Rev. James Pyke 2⭐
To the Members of the United Amateur Press Association from the Providence Amateur Press Club 2.5⭐
The Bay-Stater’s Policy 1⭐
R. Kleiner, Laureatus, in Heliconem 1⭐
Providence Amateur Press Club (Deceased) to the Athenaeum Club of Journalism 3⭐
To Mr. Lockhart, on His Poetry 2.25⭐
To Jonathan E. Hoag, Esq. 2.75⭐
To Arthur Goodenough, Esq. 2.5⭐
To the Eighth of November 2.25⭐
To the A.H.S.P.C., on Receipt of the Christmas Pippin 2⭐
Greetings 2⭐
To Jonathan Hoag, Esq. 2.5⭐
In Memoriam: J. E. T. D. 2.5⭐
To the A.H.S.P.C., on Receipt of the May Pippin 2⭐
Helene Hoffman Cole: 1893–1919 3⭐
On Collaboration 3⭐
Birthday Lines to Margfred Galbraham 1.5⭐
Ad Scribam 3⭐
Ex-Poet’s Reply 2.5⭐
To Two 2.5⭐
Theobaldian Aestivation 2.75⭐
The Prophecy of Capys Secundus 3⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.25⭐
On a Poet’s Ninety-first Birthday 2.5⭐
To Saml: Loveman, Gent. 2.25⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.25⭐
The Feast 3⭐
Lines for Poets’ Night at the Scribblers’ Club 3⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.75⭐
To Mr. Hoag 2.75⭐
To Jonathan Hoag 2.75⭐
To Jonathan E. Hoag, Esq. 2.5⭐
The Absent Leader 3⭐
Ave atque Vale 3⭐
To “The Scribblers” 3⭐
VII. Politics and Society
New-England Fallen 2.5⭐
On the Creation of Niggers 0⭐
On a New-England Village Seen by Moonlight 2.5⭐
To General Villa 1⭐
The Teuton’s Battle-Song 3⭐
1914 3⭐
The Crime of Crimes 3⭐
An American to Mother England 3.25⭐
Temperance Song 2.25⭐
The Rose of England 3⭐
Lines on Gen. Robert Edward Lee 3.5⭐
Britannia Victura 2.5⭐
Pacifist War Song—1917 2.75⭐
Iterum Conjunctae 2.5⭐
The Peace Advocate 4⭐
To Greece, 1917 3⭐
Ode for July Fourth, 1917 3.5⭐
*An American to the British Flag [the text of the poem was discovered after the publication of the first and second editions of the book, only the 2013 edition contains this work; here the title appears for bibliographic order, basically meaning this poem was not in my August 2005 edition]
The Volunteer 2⭐
Ad Britannos—1918 3⭐
On a Battlefield in Picardy 3.5⭐
The Link 3⭐
To Alan Seeger 2⭐
Germania—1918 3⭐
The Conscript 4⭐
To Maj.-Gen. Omar Bundy, U.S.A. 3.25⭐
Theodore Roosevelt 3⭐
North and South Britons 3⭐
VIII. Personal
[To His Mother on Thanksgiving] 2⭐
An Elegy on Franklin Chase Clark, M.D. 2.75⭐
[The Solace of Georgian Poetry] 2⭐
[On Phillips Gamwell] 1.5⭐
An Elegy on Phillips Gamwell, Esq. 2.75⭐
Sonnet on Myself 3⭐
Phaeton 2.5⭐
Monos: An Ode 3⭐
Oct. 17, 1919 2.5⭐
To S. S. L.—Oct. 17, 1920 2⭐
S. S. L.: Christmas 1920 2.75⭐
To Xanthippe, on Her Birthday—March 16, 1925 3⭐
Είς Σφίγγην 1⭐
[On Cheating the Post Office] 1⭐
An Epistle to the Rt. Honble Maurice Winter Moe, Esq. 2.75⭐
[Anthem of the Kappa Alpha Tau] 1⭐
Edith Miniter 3⭐
[Little Sam Perkins] 3⭐
IX. Alfredo; A Tragedy 3.25⭐
X. Fragments 3.75⭐
March 6, 2020
Lovecraft isn’t known to receive commendations for his poetry, but for what it’s worth, I like it.
Dark and dramatic, painting pictures with rhythm and meter and a whole lot of words that don’t mean much besides the image they give. Sure, reading several poems in succession highlights the repeated phrases and motifs, but everyone has their favorite phrases. Reading his poems aloud, I fall into the iambic cadence and feel a resonance, some deep chord echoing with a distant rumble up and out of the earth.
Read over his poem Nemesis loud, you’ll see what I mean.
Idk. I’m not a poet. I like it.
This compendium includes not only Lovecraft’s poems, but a host of other materials which I imagine would be useful for one writing a paper or doing some other sort of analysis. These include poems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, lists of resources, and other things I didn’t read.
Dark and dramatic, painting pictures with rhythm and meter and a whole lot of words that don’t mean much besides the image they give. Sure, reading several poems in succession highlights the repeated phrases and motifs, but everyone has their favorite phrases. Reading his poems aloud, I fall into the iambic cadence and feel a resonance, some deep chord echoing with a distant rumble up and out of the earth.
Read over his poem Nemesis loud, you’ll see what I mean.
Idk. I’m not a poet. I like it.
This compendium includes not only Lovecraft’s poems, but a host of other materials which I imagine would be useful for one writing a paper or doing some other sort of analysis. These include poems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, lists of resources, and other things I didn’t read.
February 25, 2008
I treasure this volume highly, for it is rare. I first read some of Lovecraft's poetry when I was 13 years old and it inspired some of my own earliest serious compositions (all lost now, I fear). Lovecraft may not have been - OK, WASN'T - a truly great poet, but just being who he was makes reading his poetry a joy.
February 5, 2019
While there is something to be said about the quality of H. P Lovecraft poetical works it varies, i found it extremely enjoyable. To have all of his poems in one place and in such a fantastic edition is amazing. I highly recommend this for true Lovecraft fans
August 11, 2022
Lovecraft IS my favorite author. I discovered him when I was 18 years old, in the 1990s, and he's been my favorite writer ever since. I would rate his entire work (Novels, short stories, poems, essays, letters...) as a 5/5 all the way, but I'm rating his poetry on it's own as a 4/5. What I truly love about Lovecraft are his fantasy and cosmic horror stories. His poems are more... well, it goes everywhere! I'm glad this collection, brilliantly edited by S.T. Joshi, is divided in many categories: Juvenilia, Fantasy and Horror, Occasional Verse, Satire, Seasonal and Topographical, Amateur Affairs, Politics and Society, Personal, Alfredo: A Tragedy, Fragments. My advice: Read slowly, because Lovecraft's poetry isn't the easiest out-there!
My favorite poems - mostly horror - are:
Poemata Minora, Volume II (pp. 30-32)
The Unknown (p. 38)
The Poe-et's Nightmare (pp. 38-45)
The Rutted Road (pp. 45-46)
Nemesis (pp. 46-48)
Astrophobos (pp. 48-49)
The Eidolon (pp. 57-59)
A Cycle of Verse (pp. 59-61)
Despair (pp. 61-62)
Revelation (pp. 62-63)
The House (p. 64)
The City (pp. 65-66)
Bells (pp. 67-69)
The Nightmare Lake (pp. 69-70)
On Reading Lord Dunsany's Book of Wonder (pp. 70-71)
To a Dreamer (p. 71)
The Cats (pp. 72-73)
Festival (p. 75)
Hallowe'en in a Suburb (pp. 75-76)
The Wood (p. 77)
The Outpost (pp. 77-79)
The Ancient Track (pp. 79-80)
Fungi from Yuggoth (pp. 80-95)
Bouts Rimés (pp. 95-96)
Nathicana (pp. 97-99)
Fragment on Whitman (pp. 202-203)
Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea (pp. 220-222)
The Dead Bookworm (pp. 229-230)
On Religion (p. 246)
Life's Mystery (p. 265)
A Garden (p. 278)
Sunset (p. 283)
October (p. 301)
Christmas [ Christmastide ] (p. 301)
Providence (pp. 303-305)
The Rose of England (p. 398)
Pacifist War Song—1917 (p. 401)
The Peace Advocate (pp. 402-404)
Ode for July Fourth, 1917 (pp. 406-407)
The Conscript (pp. 417-418)
My favorite poems - mostly horror - are:
Poemata Minora, Volume II (pp. 30-32)
The Unknown (p. 38)
The Poe-et's Nightmare (pp. 38-45)
The Rutted Road (pp. 45-46)
Nemesis (pp. 46-48)
Astrophobos (pp. 48-49)
The Eidolon (pp. 57-59)
A Cycle of Verse (pp. 59-61)
Despair (pp. 61-62)
Revelation (pp. 62-63)
The House (p. 64)
The City (pp. 65-66)
Bells (pp. 67-69)
The Nightmare Lake (pp. 69-70)
On Reading Lord Dunsany's Book of Wonder (pp. 70-71)
To a Dreamer (p. 71)
The Cats (pp. 72-73)
Festival (p. 75)
Hallowe'en in a Suburb (pp. 75-76)
The Wood (p. 77)
The Outpost (pp. 77-79)
The Ancient Track (pp. 79-80)
Fungi from Yuggoth (pp. 80-95)
Bouts Rimés (pp. 95-96)
Nathicana (pp. 97-99)
Fragment on Whitman (pp. 202-203)
Unda; or, The Bride of the Sea (pp. 220-222)
The Dead Bookworm (pp. 229-230)
On Religion (p. 246)
Life's Mystery (p. 265)
A Garden (p. 278)
Sunset (p. 283)
October (p. 301)
Christmas [ Christmastide ] (p. 301)
Providence (pp. 303-305)
The Rose of England (p. 398)
Pacifist War Song—1917 (p. 401)
The Peace Advocate (pp. 402-404)
Ode for July Fourth, 1917 (pp. 406-407)
The Conscript (pp. 417-418)
June 14, 2016
As a short story author, Lovecraft's reputation has grown over the years. As a poet, he has been resoundingly forgotten, and for good reason. Lovecraft's poetry is at best a slavish imitation of Poe, and at worst a mean-spirited, racist parody of the poetic trends of his day. Only his sonnet cycle, "Fungi from Yuggoth," is worth any mention at all, and that only as an expansion of his late-period space and time travel stories.
August 14, 2021
A fantastic collection, and first edition of Lovecraft’s poetry. Although many discount his poetry as not being the best, I genuinely enjoyed many of the themes displayed in his verses. It is evident how much the art of poetry would later come to influence his fiction. I highly recommend this volume to those interested in Lovecraft and his strivings as a poet.
July 29, 2009
For some reason I read this cover-to-cover, including every single note in the back. There are some gems (the Fungi from Yuggoth sonnet cycle stands out in my mind) but overall Lovecraft was no poet.
August 22, 2022
Let's stop pretending the Emperor is clothed: Lovecraft, whatever his qualities as an author of prose stories may be, was by and large a terrible poet. It is an outright tragedy that he wasted so much of his working life attempting to make a career in poetry, when so much of what his produced was disposable doggerel, cast in clunky heroic couplets due to his adamant clinging to outmoded theories of literary propriety.
Eventually, he would loosen up a little - the Fungi From Yuggoth sonnets are not anything approaching good, but they at least seem to have a touch more substance than most of this dreck. Nonetheless, Lovecraft never approaches the standards of, say, Clark Ashton Smith - his peer, and a far better supernatural poet than Lovecraft ever was.
The Ancient Track attempts to collect all of Lovecraft's poetry - including horrible racist jokes, and meaningless little throwaway poems written as greetings for friends. In doing so, it burdens the future. This poetry is bad, and those responsible for its preservation should feel bad.
Eventually, he would loosen up a little - the Fungi From Yuggoth sonnets are not anything approaching good, but they at least seem to have a touch more substance than most of this dreck. Nonetheless, Lovecraft never approaches the standards of, say, Clark Ashton Smith - his peer, and a far better supernatural poet than Lovecraft ever was.
The Ancient Track attempts to collect all of Lovecraft's poetry - including horrible racist jokes, and meaningless little throwaway poems written as greetings for friends. In doing so, it burdens the future. This poetry is bad, and those responsible for its preservation should feel bad.
July 27, 2022
The poetry is interesting. The five stars are for the book compiling the complete poetic output.
March 23, 2025
I appreciate how its a warts and all collection of Lovecrafts poetry, even if I disagree.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews