H. P. Lovecraft: The White Ship

Summary

Unlike many of Lovecraft's other tales, "The White Ship" does not expressly tie into the popularized Cthulhu Mythos. However, the story cannot be entirely excluded from Mythos continuity either, since it makes reference to preternatural, godlike beings. The tone and temperament of "The White Ship" speaks largely of the Dream Cycle literary structure that Lovecraft utilized in other stories such as The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926) and "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920).

In this story, a lighthouse keeper named Basil Elton engages upon a peculiar fantasy in which a robed, bearded man is piloting a mystical white ship which appears when the moon is full. Elton walks out across the water on a bridge of moonbeams and joins the bearded man on this ship, and together they explore a mystical chain of islands unlike anything that can be found on Earth.They travel past Zar, a green land where "dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men once and then are forgotten", then the majestic city of Thalarion, "City of a Thousand Wonders", where dwell frightful demons. They pass Akariel, the huge carven gate of Thalarion, and continue their voyage. Elton is informed that those who enter both places have never returned. During the voyage they seem to be following an azure celestial bird. They also pass Xura, the "Land of Pleasures Unattained", which seems pleasant from a distance but reeks of plague upon getting nearer. They finally settle in Sona-Nyl, the "Land of Fancy",