The Inspired Inspirator: Analysis of H. P. Lovecraft

Essay by kytarenHigh School, 11th gradeA+, October 2008

download word file, 14 pages 0.0

Often said to be the Edgar Allen Poe of the 21st century, or the landmark that Stephen King could never measure up to, Howard Philips Lovecraft was an extraordinarily eccentric writer of horror and fantasy. He was extremely intelligent in every sense of the word and influential to all those who read his work. But like most people in the world, he was influenced and constantly shaped by everything around him. Many variations of people, beliefs, and events have influenced Lovecraft into writing and becoming an important and insightful piece in the history of fantasy literature.

H. P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, RI on August 20th, 1890, in an upper class family. As a well educated boy, having gone to Slater Avenue School as well as being home schooled, he tended to be alone most of the time. Different from other children doesn’t always cover it, he could speak at the age of one, read simple poetry at two, read books by four, write poetry by seven, and was learning Latin by eight.

At the age of six he began to love mythology, especially, Greek & Roman. This lead to his love of classicism, a love for classic mythological fantasy full of fantastical deities. As an example, two of his works truly display his inspiration; “The Outsider”, that he wrote after the death of his mother in 1921, and “The Call of Cthulhu”, in 1926, after ending his only marriage and returning to Providence (Joshi 9-16).

His parents raised him as a Baptist, small roots of which show in “The Call of Cthulhu” where the description of the Fleur de Lys house resembled the beautiful Baptist church he used to go to. As a Baptist he would have gone to Sunday school until he was 12 and probably had...