George Sterling - Definition and Overview

George Sterling (1869-1926), was born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, and moved to California in 1890.  A poet who became a significant figure in Bohemian literary circles in northern California in the first quarter of the 20th century, and in the development of the artists' colony in Carmel, he was close friends with Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, and Clark Ashton Smith, and mentor to Robinson Jeffers.

Bierce published Sterling's first poems in his "Prattle" column in William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, and arranged for the publication of A Wine of Wizardry[1] (http://www.idiom.com/~cxarli/english/sterling/wine/wizardry.html) in the September 1907 number of Cosmopolitan, which afforded Sterling some national notice.  Despite such famous mentors as Bierce and Ina Coolbrith, and his long association with London, Sterling himself never became well known outside California.

Sterling's poetry is both visionary and mystical.  His style reflects the Romantic charm of such poets as Shelley, Keats and Poe.  In particular, his book The House of Orchids is worth seeking out.

References

• Benediktsson, Thomas E. (1980).  George Sterling.  Boston: Twayne Publishers.  ISBN 0-8057-7313-4.
• Sterling, George (Joshi, S.T., ed.) (2003).  The Thirst of Satan: Poems of Fantasy and Terror.  New York: Hippocampus Press.  ISBN 0-9721644-6-4

External Links

• A George Sterling Page (http://alangullette.com/lit/sterling/):  A brief biography of Sterling.
• George Sterling, Poet (http://www.angelfire.com/journal/chrismayou/gsterling/):  A page by the poet's grand niece.
• George Sterling (1869-1926) (http://www.idiom.com/~cxarli/english/sterling/):  A collection of Sterling's poems.