In an earlier essay I indicated that Howard Phillips Lovecraft can be viewed as a Romantic based on his lifelong relationship with wonder. This short essay called “Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Romantic on the Nightside” published in Lovecraft Annual no. 12 gathers further evidence of Lovecraft’s Romanticism, beginning with a brief exploration of what Romanticism is and then moving on to highlight elements of Romanticism in Lovecraft’s poem “Fact and Fancy” (1917).
My attention to the link between Lovecraft and Romanticism was invigorated because I noticed some striking similarities between Lovecraft’s “Fact and Fancy” and John Keats’ poem “Lamia”. Furthermore Lovecraft’s poem is curiously positive presenting Lovecraft as a person whom we may seek out for comfort when darkness is closing in.
The essay concludes that, as much as Lovecraft can be labelled a Romantic based on his affinity with wonder, he can also be classified as such based on his aversion to the cold light of reason, which to him was an insufficient antidote to the otherwise dreary world in which he found himself.
SECTIONS
What is Romanticism?
Romanticism in Lovecraft’s ”Fact and Fancy”
Thus Spoke Lovecraft the ”Poe”-et
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