One of my favs

THE COW

The friendly cow, all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

Thats cute... Where'd You get it?

I googled childrens poems.

Its actually from Robert Louis Stevenson

Yeah, Poe is great. Some truly fucked up stuff with him. The problem with him is, though, is that a LOT of his stuff his not so good. I quote a critic whose name eludes me for the moment: "Poe: 20% genius, 80% pure shit." However, he's still read today thanks for some random gems of his. He influenced more artists in France than in America when he was at the height of his career. But when it comes to pure artistic creepiness, you can't go wrong with "Masque of the Red Death", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher", and "The Pit and the Pendulum". :D I make my students read "The Raven" every Halloween.

Ahhh! Stingy! You evil bastard....


Just kidding, i always looked foward to reading Poe in school. I wish Lovecraft was more widespread in the education system. I think we read a very short story by him once in my 12th grade class...

Of course, we also read "A Rose for Emily"... Talk about messed up...

Actually, I'm glad you brought up Lovecraft (again! Yay! :D ) Your twelfth grade teacher must have been awesome to have let you experience him. I agree that Lovecraft should be taken more seriously by academians. In fact, it was not until quite recently (as early as 1999) that Lovecraft's writings were printed in a Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition ... and categorized as "Literature"! You can thank the scholarship of S.T. Joshi for this. When I go for my doctorate degree, I may do my thesis on Lovecraft to give him a boost (I was going to do it on Joyce) ... so far, I think Joshi is the only Lovecraft scholar out there that is taken seriously, so I'll definitely be able to tap into an hugely unexplored field ... as far as professional criticism and study goes.

A couple of other "Artful" horror tales (sans Poe and Shakespeare):


Frankenstein: Mary Shelly
Dracula: Bram Stoker
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Robert Louis Stevenson
The Legend of Sleepy Hallow: Washington Irving
"Christabel" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Book of Evidence: John Banville
The Yellow Wallpaper: Kate Chopin

and...

Pick up Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Herbert Wise and published by The Modern Library

I should really get off this subject ... this goes in the "Books" forum.

Actually, I'm sliding this thread back to the top. I want Vod to post an opinion on the Lovecraft thing. :D

If you do a thesis on lovecraft, you must publish it :)
He is one of my favorite authors, and i have had the honor of having my story Gloom compared to his works. I would definately love for him to get more recognition from the world at large.

I would locve to see a REAl and good lovecraft movie get made, not just cult-classics like reanimator, or the usual crapfests like "Dagon".

Stingy, you show me time and again that you are a good person :)

Well...Before he does...I just wanted to jump in here and say that I LOVE "The Yellow Wallpaper"...It has an amazingly eerie, creepy feel to it...Really cool:)








EDIT:...lol...You beat me:D