George Sterling

George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was a prominent American poet, an acclaimed playwright, and a proponent of Bohemianism during the first quarter of the twentieth century. His work was admired by writers as diverse as Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Dreiser, Robinson Jeffers, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, H. P. Lovecraft, H. L. Mencken, Upton Sinclair, and Clark Ashton Smith. Sterling worked mostly in California's San Francisco Bay Area and Carmel-by-the-Sea, but also spent time as a writer in New York City, Sag Harbor, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. He influenced many writers. In addition, Sterling played a major role in the growth of the California cities of Oakland, Piedmont, and Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Literary career and critical responses

During George Sterling's thirty-year career as a writer, he wrote songs, plays, movies, short stories, essays, and more than a thousand poems. His works were published in most American literary magazines, in more than a hundred newspapers, in anthologies, and in his own books. He earned several literary awards.

Although some critics of his time dismissed Sterling's poems (In Freeman magazine, poet John Gould Fletcher called him "a versifier lavishing his craft on subjects beneath the dignity of a true poet"), other media reviewers regarded Sterling's works highly (Atlanta Constitution: "There is no doubt at all about the genius of George Sterling"; New York Times: "Ambrose Bierce has been hailing Mr. Sterling for some years past as the greatest poet on this side of the Atlantic... Mr. Bierce's hail seems likely to be justified"). Sterling's works were admired by such prominent writers as Jack London ("the greatest living poet in the United States"), Upton Sinclair ("His work possess the qualities of the greatest poetry: sublimity of thought, intensity of emotion, enchanting melody, and severe and reverent workmanship"), Theodore Dreiser ("The ranking American poet, greater than any we have thus far produced"), and H. L. Mencken ("He was one of our greatest poets.... I had tremendous respect for his work and an admiration for his style").