George Sterling

For the Canadian politician, see George A. Sterling.

George Sterling
Sterling shortly before his death in 1926
Born	George Augustine Sterling III (1869-12-01)December 1, 1869 Sag Harbor, Suffolk County, New York City, U.S.
Died	November 17, 1926(1926-11-17) (aged 56) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Writer poet playwright
Spouse	Caroline E. Rand

George Sterling (December 1, 1869 – November 17, 1926) was an American writer based in the San Francisco, California Bay Area and Carmel-by-the-Sea. He was considered a prominent poet and playwright and proponent of Bohemianism during the first quarter of the twentieth century. His work was admired by writers as diverse as Ambrose Bierce, Robinson Jeffers, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, and Clark Ashton Smith.

Early life

Sterling was born on December 1, 1869, in Sag Harbor, New York, the eldest of nine children. His father was Dr. George A. Sterling, a physician and Catholic convert, who was determined to make a priest of one of his sons. George was selected to attend, for three years, St. Charles College in Maryland. He was instructed in English by poet Father John B. Tabb. His mother Mary was a member of the Havens family, prominent in Sag Harbor and the Shelter Island area. Her brother, Frank C. Havens, Sterling's uncle, went to San Francisco in the late 19th century and established himself as a prominent lawyer and real estate developer. He married Caroline "Carrie" E. Rand (1872-1918) on February 7, 1896 in Oakland. They divorced in 1915.

Career

Sterling eventually followed his uncle to California in 1890 and worked as a real estate broker in Oakland, California. San Francisco publisher A. M. Robertson helped with the publication of his small volume of poetry in 1903, The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems. He quickly became a hero among the East Bay literati and artists, some of whom included Joaquin Miller, Jack London, Herman Whitaker, Xavier Martinez, Harry Leon Wilson, Perry H. Newberry, Henry Lafler, Gelett Burgess, and James Hopper.

George Sterling House

Carrie Sterling and others at Sterling Cottage.

In July 1905, Sterling moved 120 miles south to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, an undeveloped coastal paradise, and soon established a settlement for like-minded Bohemian writers and other children of the counterculture.

Sterling brought two boyhood friends, W.W. Woods and Gene Fenelon, to Carmel to construct an American Craftsman cottage on a one acre hilltop in the Eighty Acres tract, northeast of Ocean Avenue and Junipero Street. Artist Charles Rollo Peters and Robinson Jeffers were influential in Sterling's move to Carmel. The house had a thirty-foot-long by eighteen-foot-wide living room with oiled redwood paneling, a fireplace, and chimney made from Carmel stone. It had views of Carmel Valley, Carmel River, and the Santa Lucia Mountains.

In 1907, Sterling became good friend with James Hopper and his wife when they moved to Carmel. In 1913, Hopper and his wife purchased the cottage, when Sterling returned to San Francisco.

In 1924, the house burned down and was rebuilt with thermotite cement blocks, a locally produced fireproof building material. In 1938, Hopper sold the house to John P. Gilbert and his wife, the parents of Mrs. Ungaretti.

Colony of artists

Mary Austin, Jack London, George Sterling, and James Hopper.

A parallel colony of artists and painters were also developing in this enclave. Carmel had been discovered by author Charles Warren Stoddard and others, but Sterling made it world-famous. In addition to the Bay Area residents mentioned above, Sterling managed to attract, as either visitors or semi-permanent residents, the satirical iconoclast Ambrose Bierce, novelist Mary Austin, art photographer Arnold Genthe, and writer Clark Ashton Smith. He introduced Mabel Gray Young (Lachmund) to the artists and writers of the Bohemian Club and encouraged her to move to Carmel. In 1905, M.J. Murphy built a small redwood cottage for her, which became a gathering place for Genthe, Sterling, London, and Austin.

He was one of the founders of the Carmel art colony and the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club. On July 16, 1908, Sterling was toastmaster for thirty-two members of the club for the first annual breakfast held at the clubhouse.

When a firestorm of controversy followed Sterling's publication of A Wine of Wizardry in the Cosmopolitan magazine of September 1907, other rebels flocked to Carmel, including Upton Sinclair and the MacGowan sisters.

The death by poison of the young poet Nora May French in Sterling's home drew national press coverage. The suicide of Sterling's wife by cyanide only added fuel to the flames.

Sterling's own diaries and correspondence reveal a more sedate, but still Bohemian community. He often volunteered at Carmel's Forest Theater and once played a starring role in Mary Austin's play The Fire.

He is depicted twice in Jack London's novels: as Russ Brissenden in the autobiographical Martin Eden (1909) and as Mark Hall in The Valley of the Moon (1913).

Joseph Noel (1940) says that Sterling's poem, A Wine of Wizardry, has "been classed by many authorities as the greatest poem ever written by an American author."

According to Noel, Sterling sent the final draft of A Wine of Wizardry to the normally acerbic and critical Ambrose Bierce. Bierce said "If I could find a flaw in it, I should quickly call your attention to it... It takes the breath away."

1917 Jan 5 Los Angeles Evening Express ad for world premiere of The Play of Everyman by Sterling

Sterling joined the Bohemian Club and acted in their theatrical productions each summer at the Bohemian Grove. For the main Grove play in 1907, the club presented The Triumph of Bohemia, Sterling's verse drama depicting the battle between the "Spirit of Bohemia" and Mammon for the souls of the grove's woodmen. Sterling also supplied lyric for the musical numbers at the 1918 Grove play.

Bierce, who acclaimed Sterling's poem The Testimony of the Suns, in his "Prattle" column in William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, arranged for the publication of A Wine of Wizardry in the September 1907 number of Cosmopolitan, which afforded Sterling some national notice. In an introduction to the poem, Bierce wrote "Whatever length of days may be according to this magazine, it is not likely to do anything more notable in literature than it accomplished in this issue by the publication of Mr. George Sterling's poem, 'A Wine of Wizardry.'" Bierce wrote to Sterling, "I hardly know how to speak of it. No poem in English of equal length has so bewildering a wealth of imagination. Not Spencer himself has flung such a profusion of jewels into so small a casket".

George Sterling posed for an illustration by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson which appeared in a printing of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Sterling fell into drinking and his wife departed. Noel, a personal acquaintance, says that when he began the poem, Sterling "was persuaded that there was another world than that we know. He repeated this to me so frequently that it became a trifle tiresome. Of the means he employed to get a glimpse of that other world, I am not so sure." He observes that "many before Sterling had used narcotics to this end;" that "George, a doctor's son, had always had access to whatever drugs he fancied;" says that Sterling's wife said "that George had purloined a great quantity of opium from his brother Wickham," and speaks of "internal evidence in the poem" in which "Sterling writes his Fancy awakened with a 'brow caressed by poppybloom.'" Despite all this, Noel makes a point of saying "there is no direct evidence that Sterling used narcotics."

Sterling's sonnet "The Black Vulture" was first printed in March 1910. The poem was cited by Thomas E. Benediktsson in his book George Sterling as "a sonnet which became Sterling's most consistently praised and most anthologized poem."

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, but he also wrote ribald quatrains that were often unprintable and left unpublished.   His style reflects the Romantic charm of such poets as Shelley, Keats and Poe, and he provided guidance and encouragement to the similarly inclined Clark Ashton Smith at the beginning of Smith's own career.

Death

On November 15, 1926, H.L. Mencken visited Sterling in San Francisco.

"He was in great pain when I called upon him at the Bohemian Club, but his mind was clear, and we had a brief and friendly palaver. I came away convinced that he was desperately ill. He showed every sign of complete exhaustion. That was on Monday. On Tuesday morning I went to see him again, but found him sleeping. On Tuesday night his door was locked, and the transom showed darkness within. I assumed he was still sleeping, and went away. No doubt he was already dead."

Sterling died by suicide in his room at the Bohemian Club; his body was discovered on November 17, 1926. He was 56 years old. Sterling carried a vial of cyanide for many years. When asked about it he said, "A prison becomes a home if you have the key". He was buried in Oakland, California. Mencken wrote: "In the end, with age and illness upon him, he put an end to his life, quietly, simply and decently. It was, I think, a good life—and a good death."

Legacy

Sterling is acclaimed as one of America's greatest poets. He is best-known for his poem that was delivered to the city of San Francisco, "The Cool, Grey City of Love."

There is the Sterling Park dedicated to George Sterling in San Francisco at the corner of Hyde and Greenwich Streets, atop Russian Hill. It was originally named "George Sterling Glade" in 1928. It was rededicated in 2005 as "Sterling Park," with a plaque donated by the Friends of Sterling Park and Russian Hill neighbors.

Gallery

• 
  George Sterling, James Hopper, Harry Leon Wilson, London. Bohemian Grove
• 
  Sterling, posing with caricatures of himself at the Bohemian Grove, 1907
• 
  Portrait photograph of George Sterling taken by Arnold Genthe February 9, 1904

Memorials

• During World War II, the Liberty ship SS George Sterling (MC hull no. 2152) was launched September 19, 1943.
• In 2002, artist Robert Alexander Baillie carved George Sterling's poem "Pumas" onto a large limestone monument in South Carolina's Brookgreen Gardens.
• Sterling Avenue in Berkeley is named for George Sterling.
• Sterling Avenue in Alameda is named for George Sterling.
• Sterling Drive in Oakland is thought to be named for George Sterling.
• In October, 2003, a plaque with Sterling's poem "The Black Vulture" was installed at 2080 Addison Street, Berkeley, California.
• On October 8, 1950, in Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland, the California Writers Club dedicated a redwood tree near the park's cascade as a memorial to Sterling.
• In 1904, sculptor Robert Ingersoll Aitken carved a bas relief portrait of Sterling for display at the St. Louis World's Fair. This sculpture is on permanent display in the Harrison Memorial Library's Henry Meade Williams Local History Department in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
• A portrait bust of Sterling by sculptor Ralph Stackpole is displayed near the History Department in Dwinelle Hall at the University of California, Berkeley.
• In the Beach Chalet in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the 1937 ground floor mural by Lucien Labaudt includes a painted banner arched over a doorway with the quotation "At the end of our streets—the stars," from Sterling's poem "The City by The Sea: San Francisco," and Sterling's name and life dates "1869-1926."
• In San Francisco at the northeast corner of Townsend Street and Embarcadero is a stone monument with Sterling's name, the date 1901, and the quotation "To each the city of his dream."
• In 1922, a large bronze plaque was placed in front of the official residence for San Francisco's fire chief at 870 Bush Street with a quotation from Sterling.
• A stone bench was dedicated to Sterling on June 25, 1926, at the crest of Hyde Street on Russian Hill. The bench includes a plaque with a quotation from Sterling's poem "The Cool, Grey City of Love." In 1982, the park where the bench is located was named "George Sterling Park".
• Sterling's ashes are interred in the Chapel of Memories Columbarium and Mausoleum in Oakland, California.

Writings

Poetry

Poetry volumes published during Sterling's lifetime

• The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems (San Francisco: W. E. Wood, 1903; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1904, 1907)
• A Wine of Wizardry and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1909)
• The House of Orchids and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1911)
• Beyond the Breakers and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1914)
• Ode on the Opening of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915)
• The Evanescent City (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1915)
• The Caged Eagle and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916)
• Yosemite: An Ode (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1916)
• The Binding of the Beast and Other War Verse (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917)
• Thirty-Five Sonnets (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1917)
• To a Girl Dancing (San Francisco: Grabhorn, 1921)
• Sails and Mirage and Other Poems (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1921)
• Selected Poems (New York: Henry Holt, 1923; San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1923; St. Clair Shores, Michigan: Scholarly Press, 1970)
• Strange Waters (San Francisco: [Paul Elder?], 1926).

Poetry volumes published posthumously

• The Testimony of the Suns, Including Comments, Suggestions, and Annotations by Ambrose Bierce: A Facsimile of the Original Typewritten Manuscript (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1927).
• Sonnets to Craig, Upton Sinclair, ed. (Long Beach, Calif.: Upton Sinclair, 1928; New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1928).
• Five Poems ([San Francisco]: Windsor Press, 1928).
• Poems to Vera (New York: Oxford University Press, 1938).
• After Sunset, R. H. Barlow, ed. (San Francisco: John Howell, 1939).
• A Wine of Wizardry and Three Other Poems, Dale L. Walker, ed. (Fort Johnson: "a private press," 1964).
• George Sterling: A Centenary Memoir-Anthology, Charles Angoff, ed. (South Brunswick and New York: Poetry Society of America, 1969).
• The Thirst of Satan: Poems of Fantasy and Terror, S. T. Joshi, ed. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003).
• Complete Poetry, S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2013).
• El Testimonio de los Soles y Otros Poemas: Edicióne Crítica y Bilingüe, Ariadna García Carreño, ed. and translator (Madrid: Editorial Verbum, 2022).

Plays

• The Triumph of Bohemia: A Forest Play, music by Edward F. Schneider (San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1907).
• A Masque of the Cities with Henry Anderson Lafler, music by several composers ([Oakland]: [Oakland Commercial Club], 1913).
• The Play of Everyman, based on the play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, adapted and translated by Sterling with "Richard" Ryszard Ordynski, music by Victor Schertzinger (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1917); music by Einar Nelson (Los Angeles: Primavera Press, 1939).
• The Twilight of the Kings with Richard Hotaling and [uncredited] Porter Garnett, music by Wallace Arthur Sabin (San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1918).
• Lilith: A Dramatic Poem (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1919; San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1920; New York: Macmillan, 1926).
• Rosamund: A Dramatic Poem (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1920).
• Truth, music by Domenico Brescia (Chicago: Bookfellows, 1923; San Francisco: Bohemian Club, 1926).

Songs

• Songs, music by Lawrence Zenda (Rosaliene Travis, pseud.), (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1916, 1918, 1928).
• "You Are So Beautiful", music by Lawrence Zenda (Rosaliene Travis, pseud.), (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1917).
• "We're A-Going" (San Francisco: Sherman, Clay, 1918).
• "The Flag," music "March of the Men of Harlech" (traditional), (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1918).
• "Love Song," music by John H. Densmore, (New York: G. Schirmer, 1926).
• "The Abalone Song," with additional verses by Opal Heron, Sinclair Lewis, Michael Williams, and others, (San Francisco: Albert M. Bender [Grabhorn Press], 1937; San Francisco: Windsor Press, 1943; Los Angeles: Tuscan Press, 1998).

Nonfiction

• Robinson Jeffers: The Man and the Artist (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926).

Fiction

• Babes in the Wood (San Francisco: Vince Emery, 2020).

Letters

• The Letters of George Sterling, Dalton Harvey Gross, ed. (PhD diss: Southern Illinois University, 1968).
• Give a Man a Boat He Can Sail: Letters of George Sterling, James Henry, ed. (Detroit: Harlo, 1980).
• From Baltimore to Bohemia: The Letters of H. L. Mencken and George Sterling, ed. S. T. Joshi (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2001).
• Dear Master: Letters of George Sterling to Ambrose Bierce, 1900–1912, Roger K. Larson, ed. (San Francisco: Book Club of California; 2002).
• The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith, David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2005).

Volumes edited by Sterling

• The Letters of Ambrose Bierce, uncredited editor with Bertha Clark Pope, (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1922). Sterling was co-editor and wrote "A Memoir of Ambrose Bierce" for this volume.
• Continent's End: An Anthology of Contemporary California Poets, ed. with Genevieve Taggard and James Rorty (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1925).

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Benediktsson, Thomas E. (1980).  George Sterling.  Boston: Twayne Publishers.  ISBN 0-8057-7313-4.
• Cusatis, John (2006).  "George Sterling."  Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and poetry, Volume 5, Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishers, 1530–1531.
• Cusatis, John (2010) "Kindred Poets of Carmel: The Philosophical and Aesthetic Affinities of George Sterling and Robinson Jeffers" Jeffers Studies, Volume 13, Number 1 & 2, 1–11.
• Joshi, S. T. (2008).  "George Sterling: Prophet of the Suns," chapter 1 in Emperors of Dreams: Some Notes on Weird Poetry. Sydney: P'rea Press. ISBN 978-0-9804625-3-1 (pbk) and ISBN 978-0-9804625-4-8 (hbk).
• Noel, Joseph (1940).  Footloose in Arcadia.  New York: Carrick and Evans.
• Parry, Albert (1933, first edition). "Lovely Chaos in Carmel and Taos", chapter 20 within Garretts & Pretenders: A History of Bohemianism in America, republished in 1960 and 2005, Cosimo, Inc. ISBN 1-59605-090-X
• Starr, Kevin (1973).  Americans and the California Dream 1850–1915.  Oxford University Press.  1986 reprint: ISBN 0-19-504233-6

External links

• George-Sterling.org Collected works, image gallery, bibliography and critical articles.
• George Sterling (1869–1926):  A collection of Sterling's poems; notes on memorial glade in San Francisco.
• 5 short radio episodes from Sterling's poems at California Legacy Project.
• Guide to the Collection of George Sterling Papers at The Bancroft Library
• Finding aid to George Sterling papers, 1916-1943, at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
• Finding Aid to the Albert M. Bender collection of George Sterling papers circa 1880-1998 at San Francisco Public Library.
• Free scores by George Sterling at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Works by or about George Sterling at Internet Archive
• Works by George Sterling at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• George Sterling at Find a Grave