Remarks by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

“I am Providence, and Providence is myself—together, indissolubly as one, we stand thro' the ages; a fixt monument set aeternally in the shadow of Durfee's ice-clad peak.”

His celebrated declaration of identification with his native city · Letter to James F. Morton, 16 May 1926

“But I cannot help seeing beyond the tinsel of humour, and recognising the pitiful basis of jest—the world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.”

A bleakly humorous summary of his cosmic pessimism about humanity · Essay, In Defence of Dagon: The Defence Remains Open

“Children, old crones, peasants, and dogs ramble; cats and philosophers stick to their point.”

A characteristically sardonic comparison praising feline concentration · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“But it is his capacity for leisure and repose which makes the cat preëminent.”

Admiring the feline capacity for stillness and unhurried existence · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“Beauty, which is probably the only thing of any basic significance in all the cosmos, ought to be our chief criterion.”

A striking expression of the aesthetic values underlying much of his thought · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“The cat may fall low, but he is always unbroken.”

Celebrating the independence and resilience he associated with cats · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“In its air of silent mystery there resides for me all the wonder and fascination of the unknown.”

Connecting his affection for cats with his lifelong fascination with mystery · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“In its flawless grace and superior self-sufficiency I have seen a symbol of the perfect beauty and bland impersonality of the universe itself.”

Finding in the cat an emblem of beauty, independence, and an indifferent cosmos · Essay, Cats and Dogs

“It is not impossible that the intellectual upheaval attendant upon the present conflict will bring about a general simplification and rectification of taste.”

Reflecting on how historical upheaval can alter artistic taste · Essay, The Despised Pastoral

“Every untainted fancy begets ideal visions of which the pastoral forms a legitimate and artistically necessary reflection.”

Defending imaginative beauty and pastoral idealisation against strict realism · Essay, The Despised Pastoral

“Precision of metre is thus no mere display of meretricious ornament, but a logical evolution from eminently natural sources.”

Presenting formal poetic rhythm as something rooted in natural experience · Essay, Metrical Regularity

“Metre, therefore, is no such false artifice as most exponents of radicalism would have us believe, but is instead a natural and inevitable embellishment to poesy.”

Defending poetic metre as an organic extension of humanity’s rhythmic instinct · Essay, Metrical Regularity

“It is well, in the interests of breadth and discipline, for the beginner to exercise himself to some degree in every form of literary art.”

Encouraging developing writers to experiment widely before settling upon their strengths · Essay, Literary Composition

“Each type of thought has its own particular form of expression, based on natural appropriateness.”

Suggesting that ideas naturally seek forms suited to their character · Essay, Literary Composition

“Few writers succeed equally in all the various branches of literature.”

Acknowledging that literary ability is usually strongest in particular forms · Essay, Literary Composition

“Coherence is that principle which groups related parts together and keeps unrelated parts removed from one another.”

Describing coherence as the orderly relationship of a work’s constituent parts · Essay, Literary Composition

“Unity is that principle whereby every part of a composition must have some bearing on the central theme.”

Defining structural unity as the relevance of every element to the central purpose · Essay, Literary Composition

“The end of a story must be stronger rather than weaker than the beginning.”

Stressing the importance of leaving the reader with a powerful final impression · Essay, Literary Composition

“In fictional narration, verisimilitude is absolutely essential.”

Insisting that even imaginative fiction must create an impression of reality · Essay, Literary Composition

“Plots may be simple or complex; but suspense, and climactic progress from one incident to another, are essential.”

Identifying suspense and progression as fundamental elements of narrative · Essay, Literary Composition

“The essential point of fictional narration is plot, which may be defined as a sequence of incidents designed to awaken the reader’s interest and curiosity as to the result.”

Defining plot through its ability to create curiosity about what comes next · Essay, Literary Composition

“Suggestion is very powerful in this field, especially when mental qualities are to be delineated.”

Recognising implication as an especially effective tool of characterisation · Essay, Literary Composition

“Description, in order to be effective, calls upon two mental qualities: observation and discrimination.”

Reducing effective description to careful seeing and intelligent selection · Essay, Literary Composition

“Never should an unfamiliar word be passed over without elucidation.”

Encouraging active vocabulary building through curiosity and research · Essay, Literary Composition

Pronunciation

Also Known As

Definition

Detailed Definition

Example

Additional Notes

Related Terms