Dark Of the Moon

This collection is a mixed bag, but there is probably nothing else like it, so grab a copy if you can find one. The highlight for me was James Thomson's "The City of Dreadful Night", which is truly a masterful achievement in creating an atmosphere of absolute gloom and despair. The collection covers a wide period of time, and includes some familiar classics by Keats, Poe, de la Mare, and others. The latter part of the book is dominated by what I'll call the "Weird Tales" poets, most prominently H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's poetry is quite good, in fact, and much more under control than his fiction, as I guess would be expected, since poetic forms impose certain rules on an author. His sonnet collection, "Fungi from Yuggoth", is show more memorable, and much less silly than the title would indicate. The poems of Robert E. Howard (author of Conan and lots more in his short life) also stand out.

This is a book to be taken in doses over a period of several weeks. Recommended. show less