Lin Carter essay

7/30/2019 Lin Carter essay

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I have seen Yith and Yuggoth: Lin CartersDreams from Rlyeh

by

Phillip A. Ellis

Central in the poetic legacy left by H. P. Lovecraft, his contemporaries and successors, have been a

number of sonnet cycles. Whereas those by Lovecraft and Wandrei are almost totally lyrical inconception, and ultimately marked by a fundamental disunity of the constituent sonnets, Lin Carters

Dreams from Rlyeh display, on the other hand, a unity and focus upon narrative through the sequence.That is, both Lovecraft and Wandrei have concentrated upon emotion, and have not linked each of their

sonnets into a single, unified whole. By examining, then, the sonnets as a whole, and the sonnetswithin the sequence individually, it is possible to examine how this unity is achieved, and it is possible

at the end to determine the nature and effectiveness of the sequence, as poetry and as a narrative. Suchan analysis ofDreams from Rlyeh must start, then, with general considerations, about the sequence as

a whole.

I.

Before looking at the constituent sonnets of the cycle, it would do well to address certain general

remarks concerning the cycle as a whole. Such remarks need to cover some ground in ourunderstanding of the cycle, and may necessarily be examined in detail in the analysis of the sonnetsthemselves. These general remarks, then, need include such considerations as the relationship of the

sonnets to H. P. Lovecrafts theFungi from Yuggoth, the nature of the sonnets, their form, andnarrative, along with the structure of the cycle and the concept of intertextuality. Once these have been

addressed, a closer look at the individual sonnets is capable of expanding issues arising out of theseearlier considerations. Therefore, a general appraisal of the sonnet cycle as a whole must be taken,

starting with questions of its relationship to theFungi from Yuggoth.

It should be evident that the sonnets derive much from H. P. LovecraftsFungi from Yuggoth. The titleitself displays this: both are of the form A from B, where A is, in Lovecrafts scheme, Fungi, and,

in Lin Carters, Dreams. In both, B is a place intimately associated with the Cthulhu mythos Yuggoth is the planet Pluto, home of the Mi-go, and Rlyeh is the sunken continent on which Cthulhu

is trapped and A is further associated with B the Mi-go are fungoid beings, and it is throughdreams that Cthulhu makes his presence known. There are further similarities. Both sequences are of a

like length, with theFungi exceeding theDreams by only five sonnets. Both have similar rhymeschemes, and both have been read as a sequence.1 The basic fact is that the sonnets derive much from,

and are, in a sense, dependant upon the earlier example of H. P. Lovecrafts sonnet cycle. This affectscertain aspects of theDreams, such as their nature as sonnets, and the wider question of narrative

within their sequence.

Certainly, they are sonnets of a hybrid sort. They preserve the division of the octet and sestet of thePetrarchan sonnet, and in doing so they also preserve the volta, the traditional break in rhetoric between

the two, yet their rhyme scheme belays this. For the most part, the rhyme scheme of the octet isrelatively uncomplicated, albeit being non-standard, as per the form of the Shakespearian sonnet

utilising the envelope stanza2. However, the sestet is roughly divided equally between an envelopestanza plus couplet, and a heroic stanza plus couplet.3 This division between forms based upon sestet

structure mirrors that of theFungi, and, although half of these sonnets could be said to consist of

Shakespearian sonnets, albeit presented as if Petrarchan, sonnets, the other form remains significantenough for the sonnet to be regarded, in totality, as properly belonging to a hybrid form.

This reading is supported by a rough, yet technical, analysis of the sonnets form. Generally, both thepattern, and both sentence and clausal structures reveal a clear propensity for the sonnets to be

considered as quatrains and a couplet. That is, they tend to be formed in three clear groups of fourlines, and a double line at the end, marked by the rhyme scheme itself. Whereas about one fifth of the

sonnets fail to retain a difference between quatrain and couplet within the sestet, in all these cases thereis a marked division in the octet between the quatrains. Further, where, in approximately one quarter

of the sonnets, there is no clear distinctions between the quatrains of the octet, there is such a division

between quatrain and couplet within the sestet Thus, the quatrains become noticeable to the trainedreader analysing the structure of the poems. Of course, such divisions are not always precisely exact there is often some overlap between lines due to enjambment, the effect of letting sense run unhindered


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over the ends of lines, and not all divisions are due to end-stopped lines, where punctuation marks thecessation of a phrases meaning. Nonetheless, the frequency and distribution of the divisions clearly

points to an underlying structure of quatrains and couplet that, in conjunction with both the rhymescheme and presentation, provides a clearly hybridised form of the sonnet that, although developed

from the Lovecraftian examples in theFungi from Yuggoth, nonetheless remains a refreshingalternative to the more correct models. It could be argued, that in breaking the model of a sonnet,

they remain, simply, quartorzains, generalised fourteen-line poems, however, the structure is strong anddistinctive enough to include them as innovative sonnets. Once these constructions of form and

structure have occurred, it is time to turn to the question of narrative.

Within a poetic sequence, a narrative may occur internally, within the constituent poems themselves, orexternally, over the sequence in part or in whole. In one sense, the poems ofDreams use narrative

internally. Unlike the traditional use of the sonnet as a lyrical form, to examine or articulate an

emotion or emotional response,Dreams from Rlyeh has used its sonnets to display narratives. Assuch, this is not unique. It is a feature of modern verse that forms such as the sonnet were widened in

scope, and the sonnet in particular developed into a vehicle of narrative. In this sense, or use, as a

narrative, Carter is following again Lovecrafts lead, as some of theFungi sonnets are clearlynarratives. Yet, not all theDream sonnets are narratives: Remembrances, for example, describes the

narrators family, it develops a setting, the background for future sonnets in the sequence. Yet,

properly speaking, narratives form a third of the sonnets; approximately a third relate a sequence ofevents, rather than examining details in order to create an emotional response. Thus, it can be seen thatwhilst theDream sonnets use individual sonnets to create narratives, they do not do so for most of the

sonnets within the sequence itself. This, in turn, affects our reading of the sequence as a unifiednarrative.

In another sense, as opposed to internal narratives, the sonnets develop an external narrative. That is,

as a whole, they read as a story, a narrative that relates how the sonnets narrator, Wilbur NathanielHoag, undergoes certain changes as a result of his exposure to arcane knowledge and experiences. Yet,

given that roughly two thirds of the constituent sonnets are not themselves narratives, the widernarrative itself is not simple, not straightforward. It proceeds largely through the readers capability to

construct a meaningful narrative from what is largely disparate, disconnected elements. Thus thenarrative is, in a sense, episodic, balanced between static scenes and narrative fragments. This

disconnected nature is reflected in part in the fictional Editors Note, which maintains that the finalorder reflects that of the presumed editor, Lin Carter, and not that of the assumed author, Hoag himself.

This question of overall narrative is especially important when we consider its overall structure. There

are a number of different models which can be applied to the structure ofDreams. However, one of themost useful is that of Freytags pyramid. Briefly, after the introduction to the initial situation, an initial

act occurs that sets the narrative going. Following these is a section, the rising action, which leads to acentral event or sequence of events, which forms the narrative crux of the piece. Following this is

more action, the falling action, that leads to the final acts of the narrative, the climax, and to the endingwherein the narrative is ended and all is wrapped up. WithDreams, it is the initial two sonnets that set

the scene. They introduce, in turn, the narrator and protagonist in the first sonnet, Remembrances,and the chief setting, Arkham, in the second, Arkham. The third sonnet, The festival, initiates the

action: it does so by introducing a major element in the narrative, the Sabbat. From the next sonnet,

The old wood, the narrative proceeds towards its turning point, in the Sabbat of the sonnets TheSabbat and Black lotus, hence the importance of The festival as the narratives starting point.From thence, the narrative proceeds to the climax, in sonnet twenty-nine, Beyond, after which the

sequence concludes with the narrator transformed by his experiences. Such a brief examination of thestructure must necessarily lead to a closer examination of the sonnets themselves, exploring, in doing

so, the nature and relationship of each sonnet with the overall narrative, and looking more closely at thethemes developed therein. Before doing so, however, some attention needs to be paid to the concept of

intertextuality.

Briefly, intertextuality states that all texts are interdependent, dependent on other texts to help construct

their meanings. Thus, as sonnets, each poem withinDreams is dependent not only on the other poemswithin the sequence, but other sonnets, other examples of Mythos verse, weird verse, and so on. This

interdependence can be implicit, subtle and unstated, and with little attention drawn to it. It can also be

explicit. That is, attention may be drawn more openly to elements shared within a suitably delineatedbody of texts: one such body comprises the Cthulhu mythos. The importance of seeing the mythos in


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terms of intertextuality is highlighted by Daniel Harms rather abstract definition of the mythos itself:a series of allusions spanning three quarters of a century and the works of hundreds of authors.4

Thus, the full meaning of any given mythos element is derived from the readers total knowledge of theelements various allusions. Given, then, thatDreams is one such mythos text, that it shares allusions

explicitly with other such texts, and in doing so contributes to their meanings, then the concept andimportance of intertextuality becomes correspondingly important. Also, as various elements recur

within the sonnets, they help embody and encode the themes that run through the sonnets. Therefore, itis important when looking at each sonnet in turn to point out the relevant elements, in conjunction with

any thematic analysis.

Thus have general considerations been made concerning the sonnet cycle as a whole. What remains,then, is a closer look at each sonnet, concentrating upon each ones place and nature within the whole.

Such an analysis must include material on issues of theme, as they arise, since these have bearing not

only upon our understanding of individual sonnets, but of the sequence as a whole. Such an analysismust also, by nature, be concerned with the general remarks made, and considerations brought up in the

earlier analysis. Such, then, is the next section of this paper.

II.

Discussing the poems that make up theDreams from Rlyeh proper, in sequence, enables anunderstanding of its development as a narrative, and of the development of our understanding as weprogress in order through its sequence. As it is a narrative, and is presented in a specific order, so are

we meant to approach it within the context of that order. Examining, then, the poems in order, we cannote the imagery, the themes and other aspects of the poems as they would occur to the reader on first

reading. This is important, and should not be underestimated.

By following this sequence, we can see in part how an ideal reader will encounter the various aspectsof the poem, and, in doing so, develop an understanding of the sequence as a whole. This is important

also in constructing the sequence from both the narrative and lyric elements that make its whole. Thereader cannot simply accept the sonnets apparent relationship, within an easily assumed narrative.

Instead, the reader must actively construct the narrative, in doing so reconciling the demands thedifferent sonnets make due to their admixture of narrative and lyrical elements. The basic point here,

however, is to start looking at the sonnets as they occur, and to examine some of their notable features,and some of their relationships with other sonnets.

The first sonnet, Remembrances, has a number of interesting features. As part of the sequences

introduction, its chief function is to help set the scene, and does so by both introducing the narrator,through his heritage, and the narrator's family, "Uncle Zorad and his servant, Jones".5 The first

quatrain of the octet focuses upon place: the first is Kingsport, and this is followed by Arkham. Bothshould be familiar from Lovecrafts fiction, and from the Cthulhu mythos in general. The second

quatrain focuses upon the family, specifically, the uncle. The sestet also focuses upon the family,specifically upon the fact that it is hated, and that, as evidenced through the final couplet, it had fled

England to escape persecution as witches. Thus is introduced major themes of the sequence: the booksand other occult paraphernalia, that help make up in part the Cthulhu mythos, in the octet, and

witchcraft, or what has been interpreted as witchcraft, in the sestet.6 As such, then, it places the

narrative and narrator in the contexts of both time and family, and in relation to the heritage of the past,and continuing familial practices. Thus, it leads to the second sonnet, which, like this part of theintroduction, serves to focus on place.

Arkham, as evidenced through its title, focuses upon place, as part of the introduction. This concern

is evidenced in part through the ambivalence towards Arkham displayed by the narrator. Thus, on theone hand, its streets are Quaint, and it preserves a softer, gentler lore.7 Yet the ambivalence is

almost neatly divided in the poem. The Arkham worth celebrating is captured in the first six lines, yetthe seventh and eighth move to a darker view: Arkham is dying, its air noisome with decay.8 This

darker aspect haunts the sestet: thus the volta, properly between the antiquarian Arkham and the dying

Arkham. The town is likened to a corpse, seemingly hale, yet rotted through time. Thus, anothertheme is introduced, time as a corrupter, and the old as corrupted, decayed, as evidenced through the

phrase leprous touch of time in like fourteen. So too is death made an aspect of the poem, yet

another theme that shall recur in the sequence. Arkham, as the sonnets title hints at, becomes a majorsetting, or point of reference within the sequence. Just as the later sonnet The Old Wood is located in


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a place in reference to Arkham, so the general, unstated setting is assumed to be Arkham, and thespecific setting of certain sonnets, like the next, placed within Arkham.

The third sonnet, The Festival, is interesting. Its name reflects that of the Lovecraft story, both are

set in December, around the solstice. Both relate to archaic, pre-Christian rites, and both are obviouslymeant to be related in these fundamental ways. Thus, in a sense, Carter seeks to encompass certain

texts with a resemblance, superficial or otherwise, to the Cthulhu mythos within its fold. The octet ofthis sonnet serves to set the scene. The first quatrain is concerned with the skies, noting when the event

is happening. It does this by noting both that a solstice is occurring, but also that a specific star isvisible. In this, the sonnet prefigures the later The Last Ritual. The second quatrain returns to

Arkham, highlighting the periods uncanny nature through the mention of strange shadows andemphasising the Dagon Hall through its prominence in the final line before the volta.9 The sestet

focuses first upon the hall itself. It is called a sort of church, and notes the old oaks ringing it are

malformed. 10 Thus the Hall becomes the locus of preternatural events, it is, in a sense, evil, the siteof unhallowed activities. The sestet concludes with Jones addressing the uncle, asking why the narrator

is not worshipping, and including the uncles response.

This poem is important for the sequence. In part introductory, by introducing the element of the

festival, which will recur, the poem is also the starting point proper for the narrative. It does so by

emphasising the seasonal festival, and the fact that the narrator will, once old enough, undergo theproper ritual. In a sense, then, the narrator undergoes the first step of an initiatory experience. Theimportance of this sonnet, then, rests on its relation to later sonnets equally important for the narratives

structure.

In contrast, however, the next sonnet fails to follow for the most part from the preceding sonnet. It istopographical, like the preceding two sonnets, and focuses upon a wood for all but the final half of the

sestet. As is the Hall in The Festival, this is, clearly, an unhallowed place. In the former, the churchis ringed with malformed oaks, and here the extent is greater.11 Thus the trees seem deformed, and

the grass grows mouldy.12 The fungi, too, are bloated, unnatural in appearance.13 Death recurswith the mention of a smell /[hanging] in the air as though something was dead, and the fungi add

their odour as well.14 Thus, here, the sensory details helps indicate an unnatural place, and prefigureslater details in other sonnets. Place, then, returns, as a focus, and it is a place further associated with

mythos entities. The Black Goat of line fourteen is evidently Shub-Niggurath, and the phrase itselfprefigures the Black Altar of sonnet six.

This sense of place and wrongness permeates further through sonnet five, The Locked Attic. The

wrongness here is signified through the use of alien geometry, which should be familiar from bothThe Call of Cthulhu and The Dreams in the Witch-House.15 Thus, we read of walls and rafters

that leaned oddly wrong/ And crazy angles.16 This emphasis on the geometry is indicative of the aliennature of the place, compared to ordinary existence. The sonnet is reminiscent too of both The Music

of Erich Zann, with its use of the window looking into alien climes, and of The Window, sonnetsixteen of theFungi from Yuggoth. This sonnet also prefigures, in a sense, the later sonnets of the

sequence. There, the worlds visited are, in a sense, akin to the awful worlds of this sonnet, but anyactual relationship between the two remains conjectural on the part of the reader.17 Thus place

continues to dominate the sonnets immediately after The Festival, a focus continued in the next

sonnet.

The Shunned Church, sonnet six, follows on in part from sonnet three, on the focus upon a place of

worship used for unhallowed rites, and in part from sonnet four, with the focus upon the unnaturalnature of the place, and its connection to mythos elements. Strikingly, unlike the earlier sonnets, it is

almost entirely reported speech. The speaker of the sonnet is not the narrator, but someone else,someone other. This new person is, presumably, either the narrators uncle, or the servant. This

difference is highlighted stylistically: the use of contractions is almost unique in their nature andfrequency. Elements thus reported which indicate the unnatural nature of the place are its age in line

two, the thought that it was haunted, in the next line, and the fact that it is still untenanted.18 Further,

the reason for its closure is the events held each Roodmass, and how there was one/ Never comeout.19 One final element is again smell: the smell associated with the place is as if somethin had

died.20 The reference to the Black Altar in line fourteen echoes the black Goat of the earlier

sonnet, and leads the reader to expect a wider association of the sonnet to both the sequence as a wholeand to the mythos itself. Thus its use of a church for unhallowed rites echoes the similar use of the


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church in the Lovecraftian The Festival, and the earlier sonnet of the same name. This sonnet alsofinishes the small sub-sequence of topographical sonnets in the wider sequence. None of these are

narrative in a true sense, unlike the following sonnet, and all provide a direct contrast to the earlier, andimportant, third sonnet.

The Last Ritual returns to the earlier The Festival in a number of ways. First, it is a narrative

sonnet. It describes how, in the second quatrain of the octet, the narrator is locked in his room, as theuncle and servant prepare for the ritual of the title. The first half of the sestet continues to describe the

festival, and its aftermath, as heard by the narrator, and the second half describes what is found whenthe neighbours break in. Second, like the earlier sonnet, it has a temporal setting, albeit one less

precise, described through the emphasis upon a certain star, in this case, Algol. This sonnet alsoreturns to the imagery of the books. It names one by author, a volume of Necrolatry authored by a

Gorstadt.21 Once again, smell occurs to mark the unnatural. Here the smell is ophidian, snakelike,

and the later detail about the missing head leads the reader to presume that an invocation of an entity orentities had been performed.22 Finally, like the earlier sonnet, this one leads to another three related to

it, and lyrical in nature. The detail here, however, is not place, but books, and the lore they contain.

This detail is given a generalised, almost abstracted focus in The Library. The books are treated as a

collective, as almost a unity within the octet. Thus it is Almost every book that shares the same

listed details.23 The books are almost all old and crumbling, hence returning to age as an indicationof unnaturalness.24 They are bound, not in leather but curiously/ In serpent-skin.25 This formsanother indicator that they are unusual in regards to their contents. Finally, their smell is remarked

upon, either some well that is both tainted and abandoned, or else some dead thing long buried.26

Thus the indications are that the books as a whole are tainted, are evil and dangerous. The sestet in

turn focuses upon one, unnamed book. It is by reading the book, confirming the books nature that thenarrator decides regarding all that these old, old books were not meant to be read/ By sane men.27

Thus the books become indicative of madness as opposed to the greater sanity of humanity. This issignificant when we look at the next sonnet, which echoes in its ways that these books be better burnt

than read, echoing, perhaps, the perceived degeneracy of the books burnt in Nazi Germany.

Black Thirst, sonnet nine, focuses like the sestet of the preceding sonnet upon one book. Like theother books of that sonnet, it is described in reminiscent terms: it is loathsome and vile.28 The

sonnet uses also the language of decay and disease to discuss the book, so that it is rotten with decayand is leprous, invoking in that latter epitaph a sense of contagiousness and uncleanness.29 Yet,despite the disgust evidenced within the octet, the narrator is compelled to read. He vows to burn the

books, but later, at an unspecified time. The narrator feels powerless, unable to escape. In the second

half of the sestet he compares himself to one trapped within a morass, far from the paths of othermen, a sentiment echoing the sentiments at the close of the previous sonnet.30 Thus, in a sense, he

becomes akin to those who are mad: he is one of the few now, alienated from the mass of humanity byhis burgeoning involvement with the vile corruption of forbidden lore.31

Sonnet ten, The Elder Age, not only follows thematically the previous two sonnets, it also looks

forward to the sonnets immediately thereafter. Whereas both earlier sonnets had concentrated upon thebooks, this sonnet looks at the lore within them, or, more specifically, the lore within one. Like the

earlier occurrence of a named text, in The Last Ritual, the text here is identifiable. It is theRlyeh

Text, an element within the Cthulhu mythos, and linking this poem explicitly with the next sonnet,Lost Rlyeh. Age returns as an indicator of unnaturalness, through the reference to cities drownedin myth before Atlantis birth.32 These cities, and this lore, also predate the rise of humanity. Thus

the shift, in the sestet, from the lore to the land, for it is knowledge of and from the land that ispreserved, and within the Rlyeh text itself. This is brought out explicitly within the first line of the

final couplet. It says that Only the Textbears witness to [Rlyehs] lore, and closes on the note that itis sunken, as noted earlier at the end of the octet.33

Thus, it can be seen that the narrative progresses from sonnet seven, The Final Ritual, through the

rituals aftermath, the availability and general description of the library in sonnet eight, the narrower

focus on specific texts in sonnets nine and ten, and the lore contained therein in sonnet ten. Thissmaller sequence runs from pure narrative to pure lyrical, echoing likewise the range of sonnets found

within the wider sequence. It also demonstrates the narrative strategies employed by Carter, to create a

narrative that makes the reader focus upon certain elements, whilst determining their exact relationshipto each other. Thus the reader is left to determine whether, over the course of sonnets eight through


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ten, whether one or more books have been read, or whether that question is meant to be unanswerable.What is certain is that the next sonnets focus upon specifics of the lore, and elements of the Cthulhu

mythos; in a sense, it is the elements of the mythos that become narrative elements, and not justbackground.

The next sonnet, Lost Rlyeh, has, at first sight, little in common with the preceding ten sonnets in

the sequence. It has no obvious reference to the narrative as it has developed. Yet, taken inconjunction with the preceding sonnet, it becomes obvious that this sonnet forms yet another element

in the lore learned by Hoag. That is, this is the first of a number of sonnets looking more closely at thelore encountered by the narrator within the books that he has been reading. The sonnet itself is a

standard topographical lyric, divided into three quatrains and a couplet. It has little intrinsic interest,repeating for the most part standard mythos lore about Rlyeh. Thus we find that it lies underwater

until, in the second quatrain, the stars are right.34 However, it does gain some interest in close

conjunction with the next sonnet, in the contrast of a place that is physically low to one that isphysically high, a sunken city in contrast to a plateau.

The twelfth sonnet, Unknown Kadath, is similar to Lost Rlyeh as noted. It is, that is, a standardreading of a familiar mythos place. Its source, however, is clearly The Dream-Quest of Unknown

Kadath, which some regard not so much as a mythos place as one associated with Lovecrafts

Dunsanian period. Such a reading, of course, neglects the clear historical based settings of the earlierDunsanian tales highlighted by S. T. Joshi.35 Structurally, this sonnet is akin to the following sonnet:both name a mythos book in the final line, here, the Pnakotic Manuscript. Although the latter sonnet

divides the octet into quatrains, both have a relatively undivided sestet, the quatrain and couplet markedonly by a comma. It is also possible to hypothesise, given the phrasing Only those dreamers roaming

far to them alone / Is Kadath revealed, that this sonnet represents what is dreamt rather thanwhat has been read, but this dreaming is narrative given that not only is this sonnet not a dream-

narrative as such, but that also the title of a book is given such a prominent place in the last line.36

The thirteenth sonnet, Abdul Alhazred looks both backwards and forwards. It looks backwards atsonnet eleven, in its use of Rlyeh, and forward through its use of Hali, at sonnets twenty-one to

twenty-three. Like the preceding two sonnets, it is concerned with place, albeit only in the octet.Yuggoth, Rlyeh, Hali, Carcosa, That caverned deep where Tsathoggua hides all occur, in turn.37 In

contrast, the sestet is dominated by lore, leading up the reference to the central book of the mythos, theNecronomicon, in the final line. Just as the places mentioned are not ordinary, being eldritch, arcaneand uncanny in nature, so too is this book similarly natured. Thus do basic themes recur through the

sonnet cycle, embodying a shared wealth of concepts and emotional associations.

Sonnet fourteen, Hyperborea, returns to place as a primary theme. Just as Rlyeh in sonnet eleven

sleeps, so too does Hyperborea, this time not under water but walls of snow.38 In this, this sonnet isrelated to the next sonnet, where Commoriom is described in similar terms. Its origin is not the mythos

as derived through Lovecraftian sources, but, rather, the works of Clark Ashton Smith. Carter heredisplays his tendency to combine sources, to attempt to bring elements of Clark Ashton Smiths

Tsathogguan mythos into the Cthulhu mythos, in an analogous manner, but in greater depth, toLovecrafts own allusions.

Sonnet fifteen, The Book of Eibon, looks both at the being Tsathoggua, briefly in the octet, butthence focuses upon the figure of Eibon himself, in the sestet. In this, the sonnet is akin to AbdulAlhazred. Both poems focus upon a major figure in their respective mythos, Cthulhu and

Tsathogguan, both figures are the authors of significant books within each mythos, the Necronomiconand the Book of Eibon, and both books are mentioned prominently in the final lines of the respective

sonnets. In this, too, the sonnet looks forward, this time to the next sonnet, sonnet sixteen.

Sonnet sixteen, Tsathoggua, follows, in its way, both sonnets fourteen and fifteen. Like them, itassociations are not with the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos, but more with the Tsathogguan mythos, and

their use as allusions within the Cthulhu mythos proper. Thus we find Voormithadreth, the Mount of

Dread as the locus of the sonnet, its place.39 Again, like sonnet fourteen, we find a focus uponHyperborea.40 Again, like the immediately preceding sonnet, it focuses upon Eibon in the sestet, and,

in the last line, his book, a focus that mirrors the similar focus upon the figure of Abdul Alhazred. In

this manner, substantial elements of the Tsathogguan mythos are combined and both assimilated intothe Cthulhu mythos and dealt with in the sequence, in almost a lyrical manner, albeit a manner


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incorporating some elements of narrative, here in the reference to the shantak led pilgrimage toTsathoggua.41

Sonnet seventeen, Black Zimbabwe draws away from Clark Ashton Smith, and focuses once more

upon place. This time, the place is barely connected with the mythos as such. Indeed, its chiefconnection is through those pieces of Lovecrafts verse that deal with this city.42 Thus, Zimbabwe

becomes not one more element of the mythos, used again within the sequence, but, rather, an elementhopefully added to it, as one of the additions that Carter brings to the mythos. In doing so, Carter

seeks, in a way, to integrate non-mythos elements of Lovecrafts oeuvre into the mythos as a whole, ashe has done with material derived from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.

The Return, sonnet eighteen, is the last of the predominantly lyrical pieces before the resumption of

the narrative proper. In a sense, it uses place, this time the sea, yet remains, nonetheless, imprecise in

its setting. This befits its nature for the most part as a dream narrative. It should be obvious, from thecontext of the sonnet, and the familiarity of the motifs, that the city old as time is Rlyeh, and He is

Cthulhu.43 Thus this poem looks back, to sonnet eleven. The use of stars is interesting. As the star

was integral to dating the festival of sonnet three, which has its counterpart in the next sonnet, sonnetnineteen, so too stars have an integral relationship in The Call of Cthulhu, both the integral mythos

text, and the basis for all succeeding texts regarding Rlyeh.44 That the sonnet also concludes with the

standard couplet from the Necronomicon is also of interest. It culminates this section of the sonnetsequence, and leads into what is its turning point, the sonnets that move the sequence towards itseventual climax, and denouement.

Sonnet nineteen, The Sabbat, is one of the two central sonnets. This sonnet returns to the central

narrative, and is structurally and thematically linked to sonnet three, The Festival. Like the earliersonnet, it recounts a meeting of the Arkham coven, but this time it notes the attendance by the narrator.

Once more, place is a focus. Here, it is the subterranean, as in the climactic scene of Lovecrafts TheFestival. Again, it brings back the figure of the uncle, through the concluding couplet, linking this one

once more to the earlier sonnets. Structurally, the sonnet is formed of three quatrains and the couplet,making this, as it were, the essential structure of Carters prosody, through the emphasis lent by the

importance of this sonnet to the overall sequence as a whole.

Sonnet twenty, Black Lotus, is the second central sonnet. Akin to such pieces as The Return, itdeals with dreams, but not so much as a dream narrative. Instead, it focuses upon place, the setting ofthe narrators dreams. This focus is prominent in the octet, but also in the sestet, which speaks

primarily of daemon-haunted Haddith.45 Hence the emphasis on the where of lines ten and

fourteen. Prominent also in the sestet is line twelve, last line of the final quatrain, where the poemreferences the loathsome shoggoth, familiar from the mythos, and leading the reader once more into

familiar territories.

The next sonnet, The Unspeakable, is replete with mythos references. Indeed, these are such as togive an indication that the mythos is predominantly derived through Derleths approach, rather than

Lovecrafts. The emphasis by Derleth upon the bat-winged Byakhee as servitors of Hastur is hereevident.46 The sonnet itself references Derleths conception of Hastur, through its title. This emphasis

is understandable, given the time of both composition and publication, yet central tenets of Derleths

conception, such as the struggle between opposing forces that becomes such a large focus of his own,and later writers such as Brian Lumley, are notably absent from this sequence. In this way, then, whilstinheriting the dominant paradigms of the mythos through figures such as Derleth, Carter has foregone

certain aspects to focus on those suiting alone the central narrative.

Carcosa, sonnet twenty-two, follows on from the previous sonnet, being set in Hali. It references,primarily, Robert Chambers The King in Yellow specifically through the final couplet. This absorption

of Chambers work into the mythos has been seen in other authors, yet, perhaps, not quite in this way,within the central narrative of a sonnet sequence. This, then, along with the next sonnet, helps

exemplify in a sense the concerns and strategies of the poet, and the influence and integration of

elements of texts beyond those that are central to the mythos. Hence, this absorption of material byChambers is akin to that of material by Clark Ashton Smith, seen earlier in reference to the

Tsathogguan mythos.


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The Candidate, number twenty-three, continues from the previous sonnet. Like that sonnet, itreferences The King in Yellow, primarily, however, in the octet. Of interest is the first line of the sestet.

The narrator ventures to offer reasons why he is there before the Elder Throne, citing as possibilitiespride, fate, or my stars.47 This last choice, the stars, echoes the earlier uses of stars in the sequence,

and highlights their importance as a motif within the sequence as a whole.

Sonnet twenty-four, The Dream-Daemon, once more moves away from the narrative of the precedingsonnets, into a lyrical mode. On it, the poem explores place, through descriptions seen by the narrator

opal shores of seas and cities.48 The narrator then asks if what he has seen is Yaddath or Ith, orelse some other place Beyond the cosmos.49 Books once more are mentioned, again as deserving

burning, and the narrator ends with a remark on having somewhere, somehow known these cities andshore.50 Again, this is a dream narrative, as were earlier sonnets.

Dark Yuggoth, sonnet twenty-five, is another lyrical piece exploring place. This time, the focus isthe mythos planet of Yuggoth, home of the Mi-go. Instead, however, of going into details concerning

its inhabitants, it starts, in the octet, by emphasising its distance and solitude. It is Past the last

planet, and lies beyond the shores of light in utter darkness.51 The sestet reinforces this: the planet isfar from the sun, soft winds, and blue skies.52 It is alone, distant in the midnight deeps, and is

hence, like many of the places explored within this sequence, inaccessible to the mundane person

unlearned in the lore of the mythos.53

The Silver Key, sonnet twenty-six, references both in its title and its octet Lovecrafts narratives

concerning Randolph Carter. It goes further, referencing other mythos elements in texts such as TheShadow Over Innsmouth, and creations by Bloch and the like. The sestet, however, is almost totally

devoid of these elements. Instead, it focuses upon the narrator, who has begun to change in a way, butnot one that is immediately physical. The narrator becomes vain, boasting All worlds lie open to me,

and claims he can neither go mad nor die, in the final couplet.54 This marks, as it were, the narratorsfate: he has changed, from one repulsed yet attracted by the lore within the books, to one ultimately

driven to madness, megalomania and delusion.

Sonnet twenty-seven, The Peaks Beyond Throk, returns to place, here as part of the Lovecraftianconception of the Dreamlands. The octet remains purely concerned with place, with locales where the

narrator wandered.55 The sestet, by contrast, focuses upon the encounter between the narrator and theghoul. Apparent from this sonnet, the poets conception is that certain people become ghouls afterdeath, based presumably upon Lovecrafts use of Pickman as the ghouls leader inDream-Quest.56

Thus, this sonnet is a return away from narrative, back to lyric.

Sonnet twenty-eight, Spawn of the Black Goat, is a lyric concerned with a race of beings

encountered within the mythos. Such details as the use of the star Algol, and the mention of shoggoths,Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath, remind us of this importance of the mythos, both for this sonnet and for

the sequence as a whole. The use of the Elder Sign, as that which seal the great Cthulhu in his tombis a typical touch of the Derlethian period mythos.57 Overall, this is a static piece, with little immediate

relevance to the overall arc of the sequence, like many of the lyrical pieces within the sequence as awhole.

Sonnet twenty-nine, Beyond, ties together the main threads of the sequence. It unites, in thejuxtaposition of octet and sestet, the elements derived from Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, andfrom Clark Ashton Smiths Tsathoggua mythos. Thus it becomes, in a sense, the sequences climax,

not so much for its dramatic nature, given its purely lyrical focus, but through the importance of thefinal revelation. The narrator, who had earlier boasted that he could not be driven insane, here clearly

is insane, driven mad by all witnessed. The narrator has, therefore, changed, even if only internally, afate mirrored in the denouement of the final sonnets of this sequence.

The next sonnet, The Accursed, accepts that this change has taken place. It also assumes a physical

changethe narrator is no longer human, as evinced by the phrase Sometimes I dream that I was once

a man.58 This is no metaphorical change, but physical. The narrator dreams, but does not know if hedreams of his human mother, and wakes to horror, hence, recalling the immediately previous sonnet, to

madness. Further, the final sonnet, The million favoured ones, takes up the burden of The

Accursed. The octet names places, all locations that have known these changed beings, all associatedwith the mythos. The sestet, in turn, focuses upon those changed, those turned into the Children of


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Nyarlathotep.59 The nature of these two sonnets make it clear that this physical transformation is theresult of the mental one, the loss of sanity of the narrator. As he cannot return, once insane, to normal

life, he now cannot return to normal human existence.

These, then, are the constituent sonnets ofDreams from Rlyeh. They display a number ofpreoccupations, with place, for example, and elements such as stars and books recur through them,

uniting the sonnets into a unified body. They also display a sharp polarity between narrative and lyric,veering from one to the other through the sequence. Thus the narrative serves to unite through its

creation of a coherent story, yet the lyrical sonnets must rely mostly upon details, particularly thosepertaining to the Cthulhu mythos, in order to achieve a like unity. Consideration of how effective these

sonnets have been, as poetry, and as a mythos narrative, must be deferred, however, to the conclusion,unlike here, where the focus is upon the elements of the sonnets, and not their overall value.

III.

This, then, is Lin CartersDreams from Rlyeh, a sequence of thirty-one sonnets oscillating between

narrative and lyric, and concerned intimately with the Cthulhu mythos. But to what extent do theytranscend this summary, becoming something both more and other? To what extent are they successes

or failures as poetry, rather than mythos verse?

Here is where the sequences shortcomings become apparent. As a mythos narrative, it is dependent inpart upon its skill in manipulating common unique elements in order to produce a frisson, an emotional

reaction partly of horror, partly of recognition at the elements. Thus, mentioning shoggoths is meant toprovoke one set of reactions, the Elder Sign another. Yet, what mythos works need to do is more than

mere shudder-mongering by numbers. They need to develop and convey a worldview, a message aboutourselves and our place in the worlds, even if such a message is fragmented among a unified oeuvre of

individual poems. Thus, if we see that Carter was unable to develop a clear enough allegorical,pseudo-allegorical or symbolic meaning in the sequence, relying instead to merely convey a frisson as

a form of entertainment, escapism, we can see that, fundamentally, no matter how enjoyable thesequence is, it still remains, fundamentally, a failure. And this is the case: Carter has provided us with

what is, fundamentally, entertainment, and nothing essentially beyond that.

The sequence is further marred by an inability to properly synthesise the various elements, narrativeand lyrical, into a coherent and balanced whole. This seesawing, from one element to the other, tendsto fragment the narrative, whereas the use of detail and the use of specific elements, such as stars or

books, tends to unite. This tension, though, is rarely handled well, since the inability to subsume one to

the other, thereby creating a properly unified work either narrative or lyrical, has left this sequencefragmented and, fundamentally, flawed.

Yet, despite these failings, Lin CartersDreams from Rlyeh remains an enjoyable, if somewhat

formulaic work. It shows in part what can be done, how a narrative can be developed, using the sonnetstructure, whilst retaining the lyric as its core of meaning. It has, therefore, some value, as an

entertainment, but more so as an example to later, more ambitious, poets, of what can be done with thesonnet sequence, and of its potential within popular culture.

Works consulted

Boerem, R., The continuity of theFungi from Yuggoth in S. T. Joshi (ed.),H. P. Lovecraft: Four

Decades of Criticism (Athens : Ohio University Press, 1980): 222-4.Harms, Daniel, The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana 2nd ed. (Oakland, CA : Chaosium, 1998).

Joshi, S. T. (ed.), The Ancient Track: the Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft(San Francisco :Night Shade Books, 2001).

, H. P. Lovecraft: a Life (West Warwick, RI : Necronomicon Press, 1996)., The Weird Tale (Holicong, PA : Wildside Press, 2003).

H. P. Lovecraft,At the Mountains of Madness: and Other Novels (Sauk City, WI : Arkham House,

1985)., The Call of Cthulhu: and Other Weird Stories (Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1999).

David E. Schultz, The lack of continuity inFungi from Yuggoth Crypt of Cthulhu 20 (Eastertide

1984): 12-6.Ralph E. Vaughan, The story inFungi from Yuggoth Crypt of Cthulhu 20 (Eastertide 1984): 9-11.


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Robert H. Waugh, The structural and thematic unity ofFungi from YuggothLovecraft Studies 26(Spring 1992): 2-26.


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1 See in particular R. Boerem, The continuity of theFungi from Yuggoth in S. T. Joshi (ed.),H. P. Lovecraft: Four

Decades of Criticism (Athens : Ohio University Press, 1980): 222-4; S. T. Joshi,H. P. Lovecraft: a Life (West Warwick,

RI : Necronomicon Press, 1996): 464; David E. Schultz, The lack of continuity inFungi from Yuggoth Crypt of Cthulhu20 (Eastertide 1984): 12-6; Ralph E. Vaughan, The story inFungi from Yuggoth Crypt of Cthulhu 20 (Eastertide 1984): 9-

11; Robert H. Waugh, The structural and thematic unity ofFungi from YuggothLovecraft Studies 26 (Spring 1992): 2-26.2 This can be schematically drawn as a rhyme scheme of abbacddc; this enveloping, the use of one rhyme on either side of

another, is more clearly demonstrated in the traditional Petrachan octet whose rhyme scheme is abbaabba, where the a

rhymes envelop the b rhymes.3 That is, rhyme schemes of effegg versus efefgg. This division is, moreover, more exactly 54.84% and 45.16%respectively.4 Daniel Harms, Foreword to his The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana 2nd ed. (Oakland, CA : Chaosium, 1998): vii.5Dreams from Rlyeh I.5. From hence, the Roman numeral refers to the number of the sonnet withinDreams from Rlyeh,

and the Arabic numeral refers to the line number.6 The books themselves form an integral part of the wider Cthulhu mythos, and recur later in the sequence, notably in

sonnets eight and nine.7Dreams II.2 & II.3 respectively.8Dreams II.8.9Dreams III.5 & III.8 respectively.10Dreams III.9.11loc cit.12Dreams IV.5 and IV.9 respectively.

13Dreams IV.11.14Dreams IV.9-10.15Dreams V.7.16Dreams V.5-6.17Dreams V.14.18Dreams VI.4.19Dreams VI.7-8.20Dreams VI.12.21Dreams VII.8.22Dreams VII.10.23Dreams VIII.4.24Dreams VIII.5.25Dreams VIII.5-6.26

Dreams VIII.7 & VIII.8 respectively.27Dreams VIII.12-3.28Dreams IX.2 and IX.7 respectively.29Dreams IX.1 and IX.4 respectively.30Dreams IX.13.31Dreams IX.7.32Dreams X.8.33Dreams X.13.34Dreams XI.5.35 S. T. Joshi, The Weird Tale (Holicong, PA : Wildside Press, 2003): 183.36Dreams XII.9-11.37Dreams XIII.7.38Dreams XIV.10.39Dreams XVI.1.40ibid. 2-3.41ibid. 4.42 That is, The Outpost, and Beyond Zimbabwe, readily available in S. T. Joshi (ed.), The Ancient Track: the Complete

Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft(San Francisco : Night Shade Books, 2001).43Dreams XVIII.10.44 See especially H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu in his The Call of Cthulhu: and Other Weird Stories

(Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1999): 154, 155.45Dreams XX.10.46Dreams XXI.6.47Dreams XXIII.9.


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48Dreams XXIV.3.49ibid. 10.50ibid. 14.51Dreams XXV.2 & 3 respectively.52ibid. 12.53ibid. 13.54Dreams XXVI.9.55Dreams XXVII.4.56 See in particular H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in hisAt the Mountains of Madness: and Other

Novels (Sauk City, WI : Arkham House, 1985): 336, 338.57Dreams XXVIII.12; compare the use Lovecraft makes of the Elder Sign in his The Messenger, The Ancient Track: 64,ll. 7-8.58Dreams XXX.1.59Dreams XXXI.14.

Documents

Lin Carter essay