Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Constance, course: American Literature and Culture II, language: English, abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to trace Edgar Allen Poe's influence on H. P. Lovecraft, to prove coincidences or expose differences, whether it is of style, topic, literary concepts or biographical respectively personal similarities. As Howard Phillips Lovecraft's life and work are less known than it is the case with Edgar Allen Poe, the paper is divided into two main parts, one of them exclusively dedicated to Lovecraft, the other one trying to draw the above mentioned comparison.