The Influences for Lovecraft’s Work

Like any great author, there were many life things that had influenced Howard Philip Lovecraft’s work. Most of these influences originate at a young age for him, like mental health, his upbringing, fascination with modern science and astronomy, ancient history, and views on religion and the occult. While there are other factors that made Lovecraft who he is, these are the most prevalent in his writings.

            At an early age, Lovecraft was unfortunate enough to witness the decline in his father’s sanity, that wound the man up in a mental institution in 1893. Throughout his child and adulthood, Lovecraft would struggle with mental illnesses such as night terrors, which would be used as concepts for stories like Polaris, and anxiety, which would negatively affect a lot of his social life. His mother, who ironically also was paced in the same institution as Lovecraft’s father, would also be a source of his dark inspiration. Between some of these traumatic events and his own mental struggles, Lovecraft had a foundation and a common outcome for the main characters in most of his stories. In many of these stories, such as The Temple, the main character usually winds up going insane or become horribly traumatized by either his own actions or more commonly by an outside and unknown force.

            During his years growing up, Lovecraft had developed a strong fascination for science and most notably in astronomy. At young age of nine, he began writing his own journal on astronomy and would later go on to submit these astronomical articles to his local newspaper. Most of Lovecraft’s stories would deal with a scientific reality. Though the creatures, which would usually come from distant world or other dimensions, would be bizarre and supernatural in nature, Lovecraft’s writing would always hint that the creature or creatures are not supernatural but rather just simply beyond comprehension. This can be clearly seen in, Beyond, where the main character is able to see ultra violet due to a machine and sees frightening creatures that only can be seen with this enhanced eye sight.

            In Lovecraft’s famous Cthulhu Mythos, there is an ever-present occultism, being the followers of the dark god himself, to users of the dreaded Necronomicon. This raised the question to many Lovecraft fans if he was a real occultist. Though he did admit in an interview that he had “pagan inclinations” as a child, he never had practiced any beliefs in the occult. Ironically enough, Lovecraft of a devout atheist due to his strong skepticism. However, barring his skepticism, Lovecraft did have a fascination for the occult, seeing it as a way to strengthen the feeling of dread in his stories.

            The last most notable influence to Lovecraft’s work was that of Ancient History and culture. From a young adolescence Lovecraft read many books related to ancient Greek and Roman culture and mythos, drawing a strong fascination with the strange tales. These influences can be seen in many of his works, but most prominently in his line of books pertaining to the Cthulhu Mythos. Stories like “The Temple” and “The Nameless City” either take place in or come across a structured location that is older than human civilization.