Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

I've discovered some of Robert E. Howard's poetry and have found "the song of the naked lands" to be my favourite. What is your favourite piece of poetry from Robert?

In the Inn of the Gory Dagger.

My favorite is "The Ballad of King Geraint," which has to be the bloodiest poem I've ever read. It introduces a dozen protagonists and a dozen antagonists and pits them against each other in a massive battle. Not really historic, but legendary - in that REH "telescoped" history to create a sense of legend.

One of my favorite scenes is when Uther discovers his foe Anlaf, chops off his head, and rides through the rest of the battle holding the head aloft and laughing with joy.

I didn't comment on "A Song of the Naked Lands" when I reviewed The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2. Mostly I am not sure I really got what it was about. I did like isolated bits. I loved the stanza "They will trade their freedom for harps and lutes, / Discard the bow and the dart; / They will build a prison of satin and gold, / And call it Culture and Art." I thought that was a pretty powerful stanza. And I guess that about sums it up for me - it felt like a collection of powerful stanzas, but when I first read it, it didn't really seem to tell a cohesive story, which is what I want out of a poem. I found an old blog that mentioned " It deals with Howard’s best known theme, the triumph of barbarians over civilization. The poem tells how a group of barbarians overthrow a decadent civilization only to grow soft themselves and fall to their cousins who stayed in the desert." So I think I understand this poem a little better now, but a theme isn't really a story. I re-read it after your comment, Kareem. If it's someone's favorite, it's worthy of understanding. What was it about this poem that appealed to you, Kareem? I'd love to get more out of this poem.

"At the Inn of the Gory Dagger," however, tells a rip-roaring story about a man with a 19-inch penis who gets wore down by a woman. She outlasts him. Love that poem. It doesn't have the powerful stanzas as "The Song of the Naked Lands," but I enjoyed it more. Largely, I enjoyed it more because it told a story.

But "The Ballad of King Geraint" is my favorite. It tells a story and just really rocks it. As I point out in my reviews of REH's poetry, I often just don't get non-story poems.

Here are my thoughts on some of his poems:

Volume 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Volume 2: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Volume 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...