to write perfectly of beautiful happenings

Ok so only 5 stars because i'm grading on a curve but still, i was going to rate each idividual story but found they were all 4 stars except for maybe one which was 3.

It starts with an essay about why its so hard to get good writing published and basically sets out that this work isn't for a general audience, which i would agree with. It also isn't like most short story collections. To put it in musical terms most collections are basically greatest hits, unrelated singles, but this is a proper album where all the songs/stories compliment each other.

The theme is the life of poets and the influence for their work and since Cabell beleives that all poetry is inspired by love/lust, we get a collection of historical romances.
However that description is poor and suggests a lack of variety. I was constantly surprised by the way things went in these tales, theres darkness and realism lurking under the surface of most of the stories and one is flat out supernatural.

Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, are a couple of our protagonists and i spotted William of Orange and a Medici in the background. These would make a great anthorlogy show like 'Urban Myths' :) . I can't speak to the historical veracity but there might be grains of truth here and there.
The last story features John Charteris an entirely fictional writer who appears in various of Cabell's books.

Lyrical, historical, romantic,intriguing, unpredictable, vivid and delightful. The second best of Cabells works i've read to date (behind [b:Jurgen|1110887|Jurgen (The Biography of Manuel, #7)|James Branch Cabell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328865792l/1110887._SY75_.jpg|1598851]). ( )