Lovecraft Takes Halloween to the Suburbs
When people think of H. P. Lovecraft, they usually think of his prose: ancient gods, forbidden knowledge, strange cults, decaying towns and unfortunate people discovering things that humanity was probably better off not knowing.
But Lovecraft was also a poet.
“Hallowe’en in a Suburb” is a particularly good example of how effectively he could create atmosphere in a relatively small amount of space.
The poem doesn't need pages and pages of exposition.
It simply gives us a landscape, turns on the moonlight and lets the nightmare begin.
The original poem consists of seven stanzas, each containing five lines. The H. P. Lovecraft Archive presents the poem under the title “Hallowe’en in a Suburb.”
And those seven stanzas take us on a wonderfully bleak little journey from spooky Halloween imagery to something considerably larger.
Because with Lovecraft, Halloween isn't merely about ghosts.
It's about discovering that humanity may not be the most important thing happening in the universe.
Again.
