dark

[Darwin Cullin]

I have been reading a lot of gothic/dark non-fiction lately, mostly demonology and occultisms. Could anyone suggest examples of "good" dark poets. ( beside the obvious, Poe, Crowley).

Everywhere I search on the net - hackneyed B-Grade horror.

I am interested in something with a little more substance. Thanks!

[Dunc]

For the last couple of Hallowe'ens, Howard has posted some Lovecraft (http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4269&poems) and some Wandrei (http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18929&poems). But if you said it was hackneyed B-grade horror, well it ain't Shakespeare. Regards / Dunc

[Melanie]

Originally posted by Darwin Cullin

Could anyone suggest examples of "good" dark poets. ( beside the obvious, Poe, Crowley).

*I can't answer your question, but am curious about something, and am going to give an opinion at the risk of having my eyes clawed and my head ball-peened.

I admit to having a soft spot for Poe that really has nothing to with his poetry.
I find some of his stories interesting, and some of the ideas in his poetry somewhat interesting if for nothing but the *clang* in The Bells.

But, I think, since you're using Poe as an example as a good poet (dark or not), then you may be surprised to find there's much better, and maybe a bit disappointed too.
That's not to suggest your opinion isn't valid, but to suggest that maybe if you spread your options out some that you might find some better poets offer the type of poetry you're looking for, that is much "darker" than it appears on the surface if read with a curious eye.

http://plagiarist.com/poetry/441/

[Arcadian]

zip

[SarahJF]

Just to second Dunc McReil's recommendation of Lovecraft. His prose is interesting, too, and from what I remember, quite poetic in itself and full of layered image.

I am talking from rather distant memory, though, and I really, really ought to go and buy some Lovecraft (I used to borrow them off a friend).


Sarah

[Rik Roots]

Heh. Serendipitously, HP Lovecraft is the main feature in this month's Fortean Times (http://www.forteantimes.com/mag_info/this_issue.shtml).

The FT is essential reading, in my view.

[Urizen]

How about Baudelaire? I'm surprised Dunc didn't mention him. Though I can only read him in translation, his stuff seems quite "dark" to me.

Lovecraft is the grand-master of all things dark. I haven't read his poetry but I have a collection of his stories and I always seem to be dipping into it.

I like Poe, always have.

Though not really in this category, William Blake's long visionary works are "dark-ish", particularly the Book Of Urizen and the Four Zoas. Have to bear in mind, though, that they are allegorical and extremely complex. Fun to wade through when you've had too much cough medicine.

What about the first two or three books from Milton's Paradise Lost? Heroic Satan, Hell, all kinds of creepy crawlies and Pandemonium.

"Milton was in the Devil's party without knowing it" (Paraphrased from Blake).

[Jeanne G]

Another genius in prose. C.S. Lewis "The Screwtape Letters". Not sure if he does poetry. If his name sounds even vaguely familiar, you are probably familiar w/ "The Chronicles of Narnia" esp. "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe".



Jeanne

[dullartist]

This has nothing to do with demonology or the occult (in many ways), but Robert Browning's 'Porphyria's Lover' is quite dark. It is also a surprisingly fresh take on LOVE, even though it was written over 150 years ago.

[Urizen]

Originally posted by Jeanne G
Another genius in prose. C.S. Lewis "The Screwtape Letters". Not sure if he does poetry.



Jeanne


Yep, he does; but the back of my copy of "Poems", a collection of his poetry put out by Harvest (Harcourt Brace& Co.), says he "never published a book of his verse in his lifetime..."

His poetry hasn't really struck a chord with me, though you have to like this, from "A Confession":

For twenty years I've stared my level best
To see if evening--any evening--would suggest
A patient etherized upon a table;
In vain. I simply wasn't able.

(nor am I)