In “Dagon,” Poe’s influence can certainly be seen with the story’s protagonist and framing device. The conventions of the earlier writer’s work serve as a springboard into territory that seems much more Lovecraft’s own. “Dagon,” on the other hand, shows him going beyond the Poe influence. As ersatz Poe goes, it’s fine, but one may find it not worth much discussion beyond that. Edgar Allan Poe is a conspicuous influence on these stories, and in “The Tomb” Lovecraft let that influence overwhelm him. It’s a major step up from “The Tomb,” his first effort. Drafted in 1917, it initially saw print in the November 1919 issue of The Vagrant. Lovecraft’s second effort as a professional writer. In their grey visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in awaking, to find they have been upon the verge of the great secret.” They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. “Men have called me mad but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence-whether much that is glorious-whether all that is profound-does not spring from disease of thought-from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. This review was first published on Pol Culture.
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