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Cover of The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard Volume Three
Contains Robert E. Howard’s work
REH World editorial overlay

The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard Volume Three

REH Foundation Press

2022
Publication type
Poetry collection
Edition format
HardcoverPaperback

Publication date: November 2022

Series / set

Three-volume-set

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Introduction

By Paul Herman *Robert E. Howard wrote poetry. He wrote it first in life, last in life, and throughout life. Howard completed around 300 stories for commercial sale and worked on 300 more. But he wrote over 700 poems, virtually none of them meant for commercial markets. His first publication outside of school was his poem "The Sea", published in a local paper. His famous "All fled, all done..." couplet, borrowed from Viola Garvin, was allegedly the last words he typed. And in between, poetry gushed from him.
“I know his [REH’s] stories will be read and forgotten, but I do know also that if his poems were in book form . . . they would live on and on and not be forgotten. Somebody would be reading them for many years to come.” ― Dr. Isaac Mordecai Howard, father of REH
Howard poured himself into his poetry, undisguised. What amazed him, what drew him, what scared him, what sickened him. He wasn't worried about what we the eventual readers would think of him as an author. And perhaps this is true of any real poet, the fearlessness of saying what one really wants to say.This three-volume set, The Collected Poems of Robert E. Howard includes all of Howard's poetry that has been found, including all the earlier draft versions, where such exist. This is indeed the Ultimate collection of Robert E. Howard's poetry.This is the "Ultimate Edition" which just means that it's printed on demand. Each volume is printed in hardback with a dust jacket.  The cover design and artwork are by Mark Wheatley. The first edition can be seen here.* Text edited and shortened by webmaster.With regard to editing the texts, I have chosen first and foremost to go back to what REH actually wrote. Poetry by its very nature involves an author using grammar, layout, and punctuation differently than would be appropriate in a prose work. REH certainly was not shy about being creative in such details. Some may consider such things as lack of proper punctuation unacceptable, but it was REH’s work and his choice. Therefore I have attempted, as much as possible, to restore all the texts to his original words and forms.Multiple drafts exist of some poems. Sometimes there is little difference between drafts, sometimes significant differences. In the case of multiple drafts, I have included either notes regarding, or the complete text of, the earlier drafts, depending on how different they are.Typically we do not have a copy of the “final form” of a poem that REH sent off to a magazine, like Weird Tales. Thus, we really have no idea if any differences that show up between the published version and a draft typescript version were created by REH (in a later draft for which no copy is available in the known typescripts) or by the editors. In instances where there are significant differences, we have included both versions. And finally, on occasion, there is more than one version of a poem, with it not being evident which came before the other. That is, which is the more “final” of the two. In those cases, I have again just picked one and referred to the “alternate” version in either the footnotes or included it, if significantly different. One will also occasionally encounter a “variant” version, a poem that is significantly similar to another, but with a completely different title, and likely meant to be a different poem, one used as raw material for the other.With regard to the arrangement of the works in this collection, REH had poetry that he thought was good enough and ready to publish. He also had what appeared to be works in progress, and silly things he just did in letters to friends. Because I wanted to let REH set out what he thought was his best, and reserve the silly stuff for those readers that really want to see it, I have decided to sort the works broadly into six sections:
  • Finished and Professional
  • Titled Drafts
  • Untitled Drafts
  • No Known Drafts
  • Youthful Writings
  • Poetry for Friends
It is recognized that some works may fit in multiple sections, and I have made choices as best I think. Sequentially, starting with the “Titled Drafts” section in Volume One, each section is broken down into six subsections:
  • Introductory Sampling (some of the best in a section)
  • Seeking Adventure and Freedom
  • Fantastical
  • Historical and Observational
  • Humor
  • Naughty
  • Darker Moods
Again, some poems could fit in multiple subsections, and I have made decisions as I think best. The recently gained access to the entire Glenn Lord Collection of typescripts added several poems, as well as lots of early and alternate drafts. This influx of material (along with the addition of multiple indices) has caused the complete collection to grow larger than is convenient for a single volume. Accordingly, I have broken Collected Poetry into three volumes, comprising the six categories listed above:
  • Volume One: Finished and Professional; Titled Drafts
  • Volume Two: Untitled Drafts; No Known Drafts; Youthful Writings
  • Volume Three: Poetry for Friends
In selecting which section to place poems, the first general rule is, any poetry in letters goes into Poetry for Friends, and all works either handwritten or typed on REH’s first typewriter, go into Youthful Writings. After those were sorted, then the remaining poetry was sorted as needed into Finished and Professional, Titled Drafts, Untitled Drafts, and No Known Draft.If there is more than one draft, all drafts of a poem are presented together one after the other. In each instance I have either included all the drafts together, or at least added notes on earlier drafts, if the differences are few. I have used the most “final” version to help decide into which section of the collection the bundle of drafts will appear. So for instance, if for a particular poem there is a final draft, an earlier titled draft, and an untitled draft, all three will appear together in Finished and Professional. If the best version is merely titled but not in final form, then the Titled Drafts section gets the set. If only untitled drafts are known, then they will appear in the Untitled Drafts section. And finally, for those without drafts, they are placed in the No Known Draft Section. Published versions which are significantly different from any draft have generally been included after the known drafts.Also included at the back of each volume is a full alphabetical list of all poems with volume and page number, alternate title list, first line index, and sources used for texts and titles.Finally, with regard to titles, it is unfortunate that the typescripts we have access to include only about 300 titles for the 700+ poems. Some might prefer to have all these poems with no provable title to just be called “Untitled”, or just use the first line, but that tends to make it difficult to discuss the poems with others, or to reference. A short simple title for each is desirable, and that appears to be the thought of virtually all previous editors who published the vast majority of these poems. And it may be that in some instances, the first published title actually was a title REH meant for that work, who knows.In general, I have used the title provided by REH in a typescript, if one is available. Those are easy. If a work was published during REH’s lifetime, or just after, I’ll presume the title came from REH, and use that title (though of course there is no real proof that that is true). Everything else, and there is a lot of everything else, is really a question. For most of this remaining verse, I have simply used whatever title the work was published with previously, for simplicity and continuity, recognizing the high likelihood that there is not, and never was, a titled draft, and that the title was attached by whomever. Much of the more recently discovered poetry that is untitled is here titled with the first line, or a portion of the first line. In a very few instances, I have found the previous title (or lack thereof) a real problem, and have added a title of my own creation. I have tried to keep these to a minimum. The source list at the end of this volume will include both the source of the text used, as well as the source of the title, if known, for those interested in such details.It is hoped that all this minutiae and detail does not detract from the entire point of this three-volume set: to provide all of REH’s poetic works, those brilliant and those not quite so, for the reader’s enjoyment and thoughtful perusement.
  • xi • Introduction: Salaam, by Paul Herman
  • xiii • Foreword by Paul Herman
  • xvii • Acknowledgements

Introductory Sampling

Notes

  • Edited by Paul Herman
  • Print on demand "Ultimate Edition"

The other volumes

The first edition

  

Edition and production details

Language
English
Format details
Hardcover; Trade paperback
Edition
2nd edition, version 1
Edition format
hardcover
Publication date
November 2022
Publisher / imprint
REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Mark Wheatley
Illustrations
None
Edition
2nd edition, version 1
Edition format
paperback
Publication date
November 2022
Publisher / imprint
REH Foundation Press
Cover art
Mark Wheatley
Illustrations
None

247 linked Howard works

168 contents entries

  1. "Salaam " by Paul Herman (Introduction)
  2. "Foreword" by Paul Herman
  3. Acknowledgements
  4. SECTION SIX – POETRY FOR FRIENDS
  5. Introductory Sampling
  6. " Cimmeria " (poem)
  7. " Altars and Jesters " (poem)
  8. " Altars and Jesters " (poem, a portion of an earlier draft )
  9. " A Warning to Orthodoxy " (poem)
  10. " The Adventurer’s Mistress " (2, poem)
  11. " Symbols " (poem)
  12. " Shadows of Dreams " (poem)
  13. Seeking Adventure and Freedom
  14. " Poet " (poem)
  15. " Crusade " (poem)
  16. " The Last Two to Die " (poem)
  17. " “Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or” " (poem)
  18. " Adventure " (1, poem)
  19. " Adventurer " (poem)
  20. " The Far Lands Call " (poem)
  21. " Ocean-Thoughts " (poem)
  22. " This Is a Young World " (poem)
  23. " A Haunting Cadence " (poem)
  24. " Renunciation " (poem)
  25. " One Blood Strain " (poem)
  26. " Romance " (2, poem)
  27. " L’Envoi " (3, poem)
  28. " Let Me Dream By a Silver Stream " (poem)
  29. Fantastical
  30. " Niflheim " (poem)
  31. " The Mysteries " (poem)
  32. " The Call of Pan " (poem)
  33. " The Haunted Tower " (poem)
  34. " Whispers " (poem)
  35. " Whispers on the Nightwinds " (poem)
  36. " High Blue Halls " (poem)
  37. " Black Seas " (poem)
  38. " A Challenge to Bast " (poem)
  39. " The Chant Demoniac " (poem)
  40. " Deeps " (poem)
  41. " The Dreams of Men " (poem)
  42. " A Far Country " (poem)
  43. " At the Bazaar " (poem)
  44. " The Gods Remember " (1, poem)
  45. " Ivory in the Night " (poem)
  46. " Keresa, Keresita " (poem)
  47. " The Last Words He Heard " (poem)
  48. " The Madness of Cormac " (poem)
  49. " Secrets " (poem)
  50. " The Morning After " (poem)
  51. Historical and Observational
  52. " There Were Three Lads " (poem)
  53. " Long Ago " (2, poem)
  54. " Song Before Clontarf " (poem)
  55. " The Gladiator and the Lady " (poem)
  56. " The Return of the Sea-Farer " (poem)
  57. " The Viking of the Sky " (poem)
  58. " The Lost San Saba Mine " (poem)
  59. " A Song of the Anchor Chain " (poem)
  60. " Arcadian Days " (poem)
  61. " All the Crowd " (poem)
  62. " San Jacinto " (1, poem)
  63. " Shadows " (3, poem)
  64. " Serpent " (poem)
  65. " The Sword of Mahommed " (poem)
  66. " The Alamo " (poem)
  67. " “Aw Come On and Fight!” " (poem)
  68. " A Stirring of Green Leaves " (poem)
  69. " The Spirit of War " (poem)
  70. " Musings " (2, poem)
  71. " Abe Lincoln " (poem)
  72. " Apologies " (poem)
  73. " The Baron of Fenland " (poem)
  74. " Slugger’s Vow " (poem)
  75. " The Mongols Come " (poem)
  76. " Timur-Lang " (poem)
  77. " Cowboy " (poem)
  78. " Sighs in the Yellow Leaves " (poem)
  79. " Sailor " (poem)
  80. " Dancer " (poem)
  81. " Thor " (poem)
  82. " Nisapur " (poem)
  83. " Nun " (poem)
  84. " Dark Are Your Eyes " (poem)
  85. " The Deed Beyond the Deed " (poem)
  86. " The Mountains of California " (poem)
  87. " Destiny " (3, poem)
  88. " Dreamer " (poem)
  89. " Dreaming " (poem)
  90. " The Duckers of Crosses " (poem)
  91. " The Path of the Strange Wanderers " (poem)
  92. " Eternity " (poem)
  93. " The Follower " (poem)
  94. " Mystic " (poem)
  95. " Prude " (poem)
  96. " Forebodings of a Bloody Revolution " (poem)
  97. " Out of Asia " (poem)
  98. " From the Primal " (poem)
  99. " The Grim Land " (poem)
  100. " Hard Choices " (poem)
  101. " The Harem " (poem)
  102. " To Lyle Saxon " (poem)
  103. " When Wolf Meets Wolf " (poem)
  104. " When You Were a Set-Up and I Was a Ham " (poem)
  105. " Hills of the North! " (poem)
  106. " Yen’s Opium Joint " (poem)
  107. " Toast to the British! " (poem)
  108. " A Hundred Years the Great War Raged " (poem)
  109. " Jack Dempsey " (poem)
  110. " Twilight on Stonehenge " (poem)
  111. " Orientia " (poem)
  112. " John L. Sullivan " (poem)
  113. " The King and the Mallet " (poem)
  114. " Two Worlds " (poem)
  115. " Toper " (poem)
  116. " Kublai Khan " (poem)
  117. " Libertine " (poem)
  118. " Lust " (poem)
  119. " Songs of Harlem " (poem)
  120. " Miners " (poem)
  121. Humor
  122. " An American Epic " (poem)
  123. " A Song of Greenwich " (poem)
  124. " An American " (poem)
  125. " A Ballad to Beer " (poem)
  126. " And Dempsey Climbed Into the Ring " (poem)
  127. " A Weird Ballad " (poem)
  128. " The Bombing of Gon Fanfew " (poem)
  129. " A Better Hand to Hold " (poem)
  130. " The Chinese Gong " (poem)
  131. " The Tom Thumb Moider Mystery " (poem, story heading )
  132. " A Chinese Washer, Ching-Ling " (poem)
  133. " Young Lockanbars " (poem)
  134. " The Wicked Old Elf " (poem)
  135. " Come You Back to Rachel Shea " (poem)
  136. " The Coy Maid " (poem)
  137. " Take Some Honey from a Cat " (poem)
  138. " Dancing at Goldstein’s " (poem)
  139. " Old Faro Bill " (poem)
  140. " Romona! Romona! " (poem)
  141. " Envoy " (poem)
  142. " A Fable for Critics " (poem)
  143. " Flappers " (poem)
  144. " The Grog-Shop Wall " (poem , verse contained throughout the story )
  145. " Hatrack! " (poem)
  146. " The Helmsman " (poem)
  147. " An Isle Far Away " (poem)
  148. " King Bahthur’s Court "
  149. " Limericks to Spank By " (poem)
  150. " Love is Singing Soft and Low " (poem)
  151. " The Mottoes of the Boy Scouts " (poem)
  152. " Neolithic Love Song " (poem)
  153. " Nectar " (poem)
  154. Finished and Professional
  155. Titled Drafts
  156. Untitled Drafts
  157. No Known Drafts
  158. Youthful Writings
  159. Poetry for Friends
  160. Introductory Sampling (some of the best in a section)
  161. Naughty
  162. Darker Moods
  163. Volume One: Finished and Professional; Titled Drafts
  164. Volume Two: Untitled Drafts; No Known Drafts; Youthful Writings
  165. Volume Three: Poetry for Friends
  166. Introduction: Salaam, by Paul Herman xi · introduction
  167. Edited by Paul Herman
  168. Print on demand "Ultimate Edition"

Contributors

Mark Wheatley
Cover artist

Additional related terms

Preserved from the former REH World tagging system; these terms have not yet been assigned as contributors, characters or subjects.

Paul HermanPoemsRobert E. Howard
Source provenance

This public record has been reviewed and combined by REH World. The preserved bibliographic source and earlier editorial layers remain stored internally for reference and future correction.