The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies (48 page)

“The Motes.” First published in
EC;
reprinted in
SP.
CAS sent the poem to GS on March
16
,
1922
, saying that it “was written years ago” (
SU
204
). GS replied only that it was “very salable” (letter to CAS, April
8
,
1922
;
SU
205
). The poem, however, did not appear in a magazine.

“The Hashish Eater; or, The Apocalypse of Evil.”
First published in
EC;
reprinted in
SP.
CAS began the poem in January
1920
and completed it on February
20
,
1920
. On that day, he wrote to SL: “It contains a wonderful menagerie, toward the end—partly ‘lifted' from Flaubert, ‘The Faery [
sic
] Queene,' and Sir John Maundeville, and partly of my own invention” (ms., BL). Only on March
29
,
1920
did CAS send the poem to GS, writing: “The poem is imaginative, but, to me, the technique is so intolerable that I can take no pride or pleasure in it” (
SU
181
). GS commented: “‘The Hashish-Eater' is indeed an amazing production. My friends will have none of it, claiming it reads like an extension of ‘A Wine of Wizardry.' But I think there are many differences, and at any rate, it has more imagination in it than any other poem I know of. Like the ‘Wine,' it fails on the aesthetic side, a thing that seems of small consequence in a poem of that nature” (letter to CAS, June
10
,
1920
;
SU
183
). CAS replied: “I'm sorry that people think ‘The H. Eater' a mere extension of ‘A Wine of Wizardry'. That's no mean compliment, however—The ‘Wine of Wizardry' has always seemed the ideal poem to me, as it did to Bierce. But the ground-plan of ‘The H. E.' is really quite different. It owes nearly as much to [Flaubert's] ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony' as to your poem” (letter to GS, July
10
,
1920
;
SU
184
). Many years later CAS wrote to S. J. Sackett: “. . . ‘The Hashish-Eater', a much-misunderstood poem, . . . was intended as a study in the possibilities of cosmic consciousness, drawing heavily on myth and fable for its imagery. It is my own theory that if the infinite worlds of the cosmos were opened to human vision, the visionary would be overwhelmed by horror in the end, like the hero of this poem” (“Letters from Auburn,”
Klarkash-Ton
1
[June
1988
]:
22
). For an exhaustively annotated edition of the poem, see
The Hashish-Eater,
ed. Donald Sidney-Fryer (New York: Hippocampus Press,
2008
).

CAS wrote an “Argument of ‘The Hashish-Eater'” (first published in
SS
245
–
26
): “By some exaltation and expansion of cosmic consciousness, rather than a mere drug, used here as a symbol, the dreamer is carried to a height from which he beholds the strange and multiform scenes of existence in alien worlds; he maintains control of his visions, evokes and dismisses them at will. Then, in a state similar to the Buddhic plane, he is able to mingle with them and identify himself with their actors and objects. Still later, there is a transition in which the visions, and the monstrous and demonic forces he has evoked, begin to overpower him, to hurry him on helplessly, under circumstances of fright and panic. Armies of fiends and monsters, many drawn from the worlds of myth and fable, muster against him, pursue him through a terrible cosmos, and he is driven at last to the verge of a gulf into which falls in cataracts the ruin and rubble of the universe; a gulf from which the face of infinity itself, in all its awful blankness, beyond stars and worlds, beyond created things, even fiends and monsters, rises up to confront him.”

“A Psalm to the Best Beloved.” Written on April
29
,
1921
. First published in
EC;
reprinted in
SP.
CAS sent the poem to GS on May
18
,
1921
, remarking: “I . . . have been writing; but my compositions are all ‘personal'—some of them too much so, perhaps, for the official censors (the Anti-Vice Society!)” (
SU
193
). (CAS refers to the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, founded in
1873
by Anthony Comstock and headed at that time by his successor, John S. Sumner, which was vigilant in seeking the suppression of material considered obscene.) GS commented: “I like the ‘Psalm' very much, and shall be glad to receive anything else of the kind . . . Don't fear me as a ‘censor!'” (letter to CAS, May
19
,
1921
;
SU
194
). When the poem was published in
EC,
CAS remarked: “The poor old ‘Psalm' on p.
126
[actually p.
121
] played havoc with the village proprieties [i.e., in Auburn]. I don't know so many brick-bats were coming my way, till lately . . . I suppose that particular poem was the only one that the villagers could even partially understand” (letter to GS, March
15
,
1923
;
SU
229
).

“The Witch with Eyes of Amber.” The manuscript is dated March
11
,
1923
. First published in the
Auburn Journal
(May
24
,
1923
); reprinted in
Epos
(Summer
1950
),
DC,
and
SP.
CAS sent the poem to GS on March
15
,
1923
. GS commented: “. . . let me say I like ‘The Witch with Eyes of Amber' immensely! A most luring and imaginative thing! I should think Mencken would fall on it with a whoop. Anyway, Poe would, were he now the editor of ‘Smart Set'” (letter to CAS, April
6
,
1923
;
SU
230
). If the poem was submitted to H. L. Mencken for the
Smart Set,
it was rejected. CAS later submitted it, along with “On the Canyon-Side,” to William Rose Benét for the
Saturday Review of Literature,
but “apparently they were too strong for him” (letter to GS, July
21
,
1924
;
SU
242
).

“We Shall Meet.” The manuscript is dated March
10
,
1923
. First published in the
Auburn Journal
(April
26
,
1923
); reprinted in the
Wanderer
(May
1924
),
S,
and
SP.
Original title: “At the Last.” CAS sent the poem to GS on March
15
,
1923
. GS commented: “Baudelaire (as translated) has nothing better than ‘We Shall Meet.' I don't like that ‘flaffing' [l.
33
], though—it seems an absurd word
in itself.
I'd keep off the ultra-obsolete” (letter to CAS, April
6
,
1923
;
SU
230
).

“On Re-reading Baudelaire.” First published in the
Auburn Journal
(December
13
,
1923
); reprinted in
S
(as “On Reading Baudelaire”) and
SP.
The poem apparently was written more than a year before CAS began his own translations of
Les Fleurs du mal
in the spring of
1925
, so his “rereading” was probably done in English, perhaps in the translation of F. P. Sturm (
1906
).

“To George Sterling: A Valediction.” Written December
1926
, following GS's death on November
17
,
1926
. First published in the
Overland Monthly
(November
1927
), an issue devoted to GS; reprinted in
SP
(as “A Valediction to George Sterling”). First title: “Memorial to George Sterling.”

“Anterior Life.” The first of three translations from Baudelaire's
Les Fleurs du mal
printed here. This poem (a translation of “La Vie antérieure”) was first published in the
Arkham Sampler
(Autumn
1948
); reprinted in
S&P
and
SP.

“Hymn to Beauty.” A translation of “Hymne à la beauté.” First published in the
Auburn Journal
(September
10
,
1925
); reprinted in
S,
Weird Tales
(June
1937
), and
SP.

“The Remorse of the Dead.” A translation of “Remords posthume.” First published in
Measure
(April
1925
).

“Exorcism.”
The manuscript is dated January
14
,
1929
. First published in
Troubadour
(February–March
1931
); reprinted in
SP.

“Nyctalops.” The manuscript is dated March
21
,
1929
. First published in
Weird Tales
(October
1929
); reprinted in
SP.
Also published in
The Laureate's Wreath: An Anthology in Honor of Dr. Henry Meade Bland, Poet Laureate of California,
ed. The Edwin Markham Poetry Society (San Jose: The Edwin Markham Poetry Society,
1934
), and in
Today's Literature,
ed. Dudley Chadwick Gordon, Vernon Rupert King, and William Whittingham Lyman (New York: American Book Co.,
1935
). The word
nyctalops
is a variant of
nyctalopia,
originally meaning night-blindness but later coming to mean the inability to see clearly except at night; it is in the latter sense that CAS uses the word. The title of the poem inspired the small-press journal
Nyctalops
(
1970
–
83
), edited by Harry O. Morris, Jr., and devoted to HPL, CAS, and other weird writers.

“Outlanders.” The manuscript is dated June
26
,
1934
. First published as a supplementary broadside accompanying
Nero and Other Poems
(Lakeport, FL: Futile Press,
1937
); reprinted in
Weird Tales
(June
1938
) and
SP.

“Song of the Necromancer.” First published in
Weird Tales
(February
1937
); reprinted in
SP.

“To Howard Phillips Lovecraft.” The manuscript is dated March
31
,
1937
. First published in
Weird Tales
(July
1937
); reprinted in HPL's
Marginalia,
ed. August Derleth and Donald Wandrei (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House,
1944
), and
SP.
A poem written to HPL (
1890
–
1937
) sixteen days after his death.

“Madrigal of Memory.” Written on July
15
,
1941
. First published in
Kaleidograph
(January
1942
); reprinted in
SP.

“The Old Water-Wheel.” The manuscript is dated August
2
,
1941
. First published in
Poetry
(December
1942
); reprinted in
DC
and
SP.

“The Hill of Dionysus.” The manuscript is dated November
5
,
1942
. First published in
HD;
reprinted in
SP.
In Greek myth, Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele, and his worship was associated with intoxication, ecstasy, and even madness. The Hill of Dionysus was a real place, a favorite picnic spot in San Rafael, California for CAS, Eric Barker, and Madelynne Greene.

“If Winter Remain.” The manuscript is dated January
26
,
1949
. First published in
SP.

“Amithaine.” The manuscript is dated October
21
,
1950
. First published in
Different
7
, no.
3
(Autumn
1951
):
9
; reprinted in
DC.
The name Amithaine is CAS's invention. See Ronald S. Hilger, “Amithaigne,”
Lost Worlds,
no.
3
(
2006
):
34
–
35
, which prints an early draft of the poem, titled “Amithaigne.”

“Cycles.” CAS's last poem, dated June
4
,
1961
. First published in
In Memoriam: Clark Ashton Smith,
ed. Jack L. Chalker (Baltimore: Mirage Press,
1963
). The first three words duplicate the title of a poem written circa
1943
(
Acolyte,
Spring
1944
;
CPT
2
.
480
).

1
. The Pleiades is a cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus.

2
. Alcyone is the brightest of the Pleiades.

3
. Antares is a red star of the first magnitude in the constellation Scorpio.

4
. Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion.

5
. Hecate was a Greek goddess (the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asterie) who eventually became associated with the ghost world, sorcery, and black magic, being an attendant on Persephone in the underworld.

6
. Cimmerian refers either to an imaginary people cited in Homer (
Odyssey
11
.
14
) as dwelling beyond the ocean in perpetual darkness, or to an actual tribe dwelling on the north shore of the Black Sea in the eighth and seventh centuries
BCE
.