An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

The poem was written in St. John’s Churchyard in Providence, where HPL and his guests R.H.Barlow and Adolphe de Castro wrote acrostic “sonnets” (they lack one line for a true sonnet) to Poe. De Castro promptly send his to WT,where it was accepted; HPL’s and Barlow’s were rejected, as Farnsworth Wright only wished one such poem. Maurice W.Moe hectographed the three poems, along with one of his own, in Four Acrostic Sonnets on Edgar Allan Poe. Later Henry Kuttner wrote another.

See David E.Schultz, “In a Sequester’d Churchyard,” CryptNo. 57 (St. John’s Eve 1988): 26–29, which reprints all five poems.

In Defence of Dagon.

Collective title for a series of three essays: “The Defence Reopens!” (3,820 words; January 1921); “The Defence Remains Open!” (5,980 words; April 1921); and “Final Words” (2,100 words; September 1921). First published in its entirety in In Defence of Dagon(Necronomicon Press, 1985). Brief excerpts from the first two essays appeared as “In Defense of Dagon,” Leaves(1938).

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The essays were written in response to comments on HPL’s poems and stories submitted to the Transatlantic Circulator, an Anglo-American organization of amateur journalists who circulated their work in manuscript and commented on it. The essays present a strong defense of HPL’s brand of weird fiction (the weird writer is “the poet of twilight visions and childhood memories, but sings only for the sensitive”), calling upon Oscar Wilde’s critical theories to combat the notion that weird art (or any art) can be “morbid” or “unhealthy.” HPL also vigorously defends his atheistic materialism (first expressed in a letter or essay that does not now survive), maintaining that religion has been largely disproven by the sciences of physics and biology and that anthropology has accounted for the origin of religious belief. Many comments by other members of the Circulator (which included John Ravenor Bullen, who was perhaps responsible for HPL’s entry into the group) survive at JHL. “In Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard.”

Essay (1,580 words); written in June or July 1936. First published in Fantasy Magazine(September 1936); rpt. MW

Poignant overview of Howard’s life and work, written shortly after his suicide. The essay is based largely on a letter to E.Hoffmann Price (July 5, 1936). A shorter version (probably written first) appeared as “Robert Ervin Howard: 1906–1936” ( Phantagraph,August 1936). HPL also wrote a letter to WTon Howard’s death (published in the letter column in October 1936).

“In the Editor’s Study.”

A regular column of commentary in issues of the Conservative(1916–23); rpt. The Conservative: Complete(Necronomicon Press, 1976, 1977).

The column appeared in seven issues of the paper. In October 1916 there were three subsections: “The Proposed Author’s Union” (a satirical squib on unionization of authors); “Revolutionary Mythology” (on extravagant praise of the heroes of the American Revolution); and “The Symphonic Ideal” (on the need to remain “childlike and contented” in the modern age). In January 1917 there were two subsections: “The Vers Libre Epidemic” (an attack on free verse) and “Amateur Standards” (on a political feud in the UAPA). In July 1917 there was one subsection: “A Remarkable Document” (on a temperance article by Booth Tarkington). In July 1918 there were six subsections: “AngloSaxondom” (on the need for America and Great Britain to unite against immigrants); “Amateur Criticism” (on the criticism of amateur writing; specifically directed at Prof. Philip B.McDonald); “The United 1917–1918” (on the accomplishments of the UAPA during the past year); “The Amateur Press Club” (on a new international organization of amateur journalists); “Ward Phillips Replies” (a paragraph prefacing HPL’s poem “Grace,” responding to a poem written by Rheinhart Kleiner); and “Les Mouches Fantastiques”(on a literarily radical amateur journal edited by Elsa Gidlow and Roswell George Mills). In July 1919 there was one subsection: “The League” (a jaundiced look at the inability of the League of Nations to stop war). In March 1923 there were two subsections: “Rursus Adsumus” (on HPL’s revival of the Conservative) and “Rudis Indigestaque Moles” (a condemnation of the literary radicalism of T.S.Eliot’s The Waste Land). In

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July 1923 the column appeared without any subsections, discussing the need to take cognizance of recent developments in art and philosophy.

“In the Vault.”