Little known in his lifetime, Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937) is widely considered to be the most influential author of modern American weird fiction. He published almost exclusively in pulp magazines like Weird Tales, which specialized in fantasy and horror literature. Lovecraft pioneered the genre of cosmic horror, in which his protagonists risked madness as they discovered secret knowledge that betrayed the insignificance of human existence. In the late 1920s, he composed a series of thirty-six sonnets called “Fungi from Yuggoth.” Drawing inspiration from the dream poems of Lord Dunsany (1878–1957), many of these sonnets described nocturnal visions of an alternate and thoroughly alien reality. While Lovecraft’s writings rarely touched on Christian themes, his description of the “night-gaunts” in the eponymous sonnet from this series was strongly reminiscent of depictions of demons in the Christian tradition.
Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell,
But every night I see the rubbery things;
Black, horned, and slender, with membranous wings,
And tails that bear the bifid barb of hell.
They come in legions on the north wind’s swell,
With obscene clutch that titillates and stings,
Snatching me off on monstrous voyagings
To grey worlds hidden deep in nightmare’s well.
Over the jagged peaks of Thok they sweep,
Heedless of all the cries I try to make,
And down the nether pits to that foul lake
Where the puffed shoggoths splash in doubtful sleep.
But oh! if only they would make some sound,
Or wear a face where faces should be found!