Was he a good poet? His poetry seems to be largely ignored, by fans of poetry or of Lovecraft. What are your opinions on it? One is tempted to agree with Lovecraft that the poems are metrically good but otherwise lack much substance.
One of his better ones, "The Ancient Track":There was no hand to hold me backThat night I found the ancient trackOver the hill, and strained to seeThe fields that teased my memory.This tree, that wall—I knew them well,And all the roofs and orchards fellFamiliarly upon my mindAs from a past not far behind.I knew what shadows would be castWhen the late moon came up at lastFrom back of Zaman's Hill, and howThe 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 restBeyond that silhouetted crest.Straight on I walked, while all the nightGrew pale with phosphorescent light,And wall and farmhouse gable glowedUnearthly by the climbing road.There was the milestone that I knew—"Two miles to Dunwich"—now the viewOf distant spire and roofs would dawnWith ten more upward paces gone. . . .There was no hand to hold me backThat night I found the ancient track,And reached the crest to see outspreadA valley of the lost and dead:And over Zaman’s Hill the hornOf a malignant moon was born,To light the weeds and vines that grewOn ruined walls I never knew.The fox-fire glowed in field and bog,And unknown waters spewed a fogWhose curling talons mocked the thoughtThat I had ever known this spot.Too well I saw from the mad sceneThat my loved past had never been—Nor was I now upon the trailDescending to that long-dead vale.Around was fog—ahead, the sprayOf star-streams in the Milky Way. . . .There was no hand to hold me backThat night I found the ancient track.
>>25316875not as good as his fiction, but it had its moments
>>25316875Bad Alexander Pope that's all
>>25316895A great poem, that stands titan tall,It shows the world, what stands we all,We need to reverse the 50s curse,It has only made the world worse,Send them to Afrique where they belongSo in our country they can't do wrong,We need to start rising up today,For a new Caes
>>25316875Better than Eliot
>>25317984Name a poem of his better than The Waste Land, and explain why it is better.