The Dead Are Having a Great Night
So here again stretch the vale and plain
That moons long-forgotten saw,
And the dead leap gay in the pallid ray,
Sprung out of the tomb’s black maw
To shake all the world with awe.
The fifth stanza brings us back to the landscape, but now the dead are actively emerging from their graves.
And they're not exactly looking miserable about it.
Lovecraft describes them leaping into the pale moonlight, rising from the darkness of the tomb and shaking the world with awe.
That's quite a Halloween party.
Most Halloween decorations are happy enough with a skeleton hanging from a tree.
Lovecraft apparently looked at that concept and thought:
Needs more dead people.
The imagery also reinforces the idea that this landscape has existed for far longer than the modern world surrounding it.
The moon has seen it before.
The landscape has seen it before.
The dead have returned before.
And perhaps they'll return again.
The living characters in this poem aren't really characters at all.
They're temporary occupants.
The dead have history.
The landscape has history.
Humanity is simply passing through.
