Hello!

On my weblog, I've been posting short essays on Clark Ashton Smith and George Sterling (and I hope to post more). I've been focusing on what can be learned from them about the use of language and the craftsmanship of writing.

Criticisms and comments are more than welcome. I've been a huge admirer of Smith since 1974, but I've only just begun to read Sterling; any insights on his methods would be more than appreciated.

Thank you!

Mark Fuller Dillon
[markfullerdillon.blogspot.ca]

Thank you for sharing. I appreciate and agree with everything you have to say. You'll find no criticism from me.

Mark,

you have an interesting post about Sterling. If I may, you may like to look into the poetry of the Formalists of the mid-Twentieth Century in relation to the poetry of Smith and Sterling. You'll probably find that the use of language, rather than the reliance of forms, is the major area of difference between the two groups, especially in the regional poetry of the American south.

I could also recommend poets such as the Australians A. D. Hope and James Mcauley, also formalists and, to a degree, anti-modernists. Although a poet such as Hugh McCrae may (at first glance) be more sympathetic with his use of mythological motifs in his Vitalist verse, it is true that in doing so most of that poetry was written by the 1920s, and is not really of the same period as the later Formalists of the 1940s and 1950s.

And it's interesting that you've glossed over the hoary equation of formalism in poetry with reactionary politics, and free verse with progressive politics, that has been so prevalent since the birth of Anglophonic Modernisms. If it weren't such a cliche I'd add to the literature, citing my own practice. :)

I hope to have time to see what you have to say - please feel free to correspond with me - I will be speaking on CAS at the HP Lovecraft do in Portland, Or in April -
Dr. Farmer

Hey Mark! I didn't want to start a new thread. I discovered your excellent blog by way of FB several months ago. Hopefully, me bumping this thread will allow a few more people to find your blog.

Anyway, I wrote a short tribute for the anniversary of CAS' mortality. I hope you all like it.

[dmrbooks.com]