Poe vs. Lovecraft

[Nemo Neem]

Recently, I had a debate with a colleague of mine on who was the better "Gothic" author, Poe or Lovecraft. I told him I prefer Poe, and he laughed, saying I needed to "graduate to Lovecraft." What do you guys think?

[rememberflorian]

this man sounds like a fool, assuming that lovecraft is the next step above poe.

lovecraft is one of my favourite writers, but his stories wouldn't even exist without the influence of poe, his early stories are mostly imitations. i dont think lovecraft's stories could ever be as timeless or psychologically penetrating as poe's, not just because many of them are driven by his inherently racist way of looking at the world. i think he is a flawed writer - often camp [charmingly] and tasteless, but his stories are fascinating and enjoyable with many brilliant ideas in them. they can be genuinely scary and full of imagination, but i would not classify his writing as art. i think poe wrote pure art, his prose is beautifully styled and structured, and his themes resonate more, because they are generally more concerned with the human. in a similar way, both writers created their own individual fantasy worlds - for lovecraft the universe is ultimately alien and unknowable, he is all about the cosmic, but poe is more concerned with the gothic and earthly themes such as death and madness. poe was a master of dark romanticism, he practically created detective fiction as well as perfecting and defining the short story medium in his essays. lovecraft's style is all his own but poe is still the king, his reputation is no accident. as much as i really love them both i don't think there is any comparison in terms of quality of writing and i dont think anyone could argue that lovecraft ever wrote anything as good as 'the tell-tale heart' for instance.

[PeterL]

They were different sorts of authors. Poe didn't write only horror, but Lovecraft wrote nothing that I know of outside that sub-genre. If one looks only at the horror, then Lovecraft was better, but, if one looks at humor or detective or poetry, etc., then Poe was clearly better, because Lovecraft didn't play.

[JohnAvg]

Like you can't compare Plato to Aristotle, i think it's sort of unavailing to compare Poe and Lovecraft.They're both absolutely astonishing horror fiction authors, who have enhanced that literature genre with their own special way. As rememberflorian says Lovecraft is the next step above Poe as he was his main influence and inspiration. So there is a relationship of sequence between them rather than an antagonism.

[Lokasenna]

Lovecraft, but that's a purely subjective view; both were masters of their genre. Both are highly readable, but Lovecraft just appeals more to my particular tastes.

Poe was a much superior poet though, and a more versatile writer.

[Dark Muse]

Poe all the way. Though thier writing styles are very different which does make them quite difficult to compare, as a horror fanatic, and a lover of the gothic. I prefer Poe and his prose and writing style and the nature of his stories over Lovecraft.