SOURCE: Burleson, Donald R. “Early Years: Beginnings and Foreshadowings (1920–1923).” In H. P. Lovecraft: A Critical Study, pp. 39–96. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.

In the following essay, Burleson provides detailed analyses of several of Lovecraft's important, early stories.

“the Terrible Old Man” and “the Picture in the House”

Even the very early period of 1917–1919 in Lovecraft's writing career, the period of “Dagon,” produced works that suggest that some of the major motifs and themes of Lovecraft's later productions were already stirring, already formative in his mind. However, in the period from 1921 to 1923, he entered a new phase of early creativity, one in which he could truly be said to have embarked on the mainstream of his literary career. His celebrated Mythos was born during this period, and he wrote some tales which, if they are secondary to some of his later works and show the fabric of his conception in...