20th Century Fantasy Poetry
When you mention fantasy poetry, most people think of something written in the 19th Century (if they can think of any fantasy poems at all!); poems like Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven', or Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky'.
But almost totally ignored is the poetry of 20th Century pulp writers and fantasists. Rarely does Tolkien's 'lays' of Beleriand, H.P. Lovecraft's 'Despair', or anything by Robert E. Howard.
But these gentlemen were all very literate and composed much poetry in addition to their more well known prose works.
In issue #10 of Conan the Barbarian, Roy Thomas, and brother and sister artists Marie and John Severin - the team behind Kull the Conqueror, adapt 'The King and the Oak', one of Howard's previously published poems that featured Kull.
It's a great poem, not just because it features Kull, but because it has a real medieval parable quality to it. It features Kull riding to the sea at night, but being accosted by a tree in the forest - or was he? And there's even a covert environmental message here, worthy of some of the best of Dr. Seuss' works.
It's almost sad that we rarely see the comics medium used to elucidate these lesser known works of literature like it did in the 70s and 80s - but at least much of what has been adapted continues to live on in reprints.
(link to the original review page for recommendations/comments)
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