"The Testimony of the Suns" is a lengthy astronomical poem by American poet and playwright George Sterling that combines elements of science, fantasy, science fiction, and philosophy. Literary historian S. T. Joshi called it Sterling's "longest poem and one of his greatest."George Sterling, Complete Poetry, S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, eds. (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2013), v. 2, p. 752. Upon the poem's first publication, critic Ambrose Bierce wrote in the New York American: "...its publication is an event of capital importance. Written in French and published in Paris, it would stir the very stones in the streets. ...It is nothing but literature—nothing but the most notable utterance that has been heard in our Western World since the great heart of Poe was broken against the adamant of his country's inattention."Ambrose Bierce, "The Passing Show: A Record of Individual Opinion and Dissent," New York American (December 27, 1903), p. 32.
The unusual poem was too long for magazines and was rejected by book publishers, so in 1903 Sterling self-published it in his first book, The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems. When his book was released, Sterling's poems had been published in newspapers and magazines for seven years. The Washington Post had published his first important poem, and the prestigious national magazine Harper's Monthly had published another Sterling poem, but "The Testimony of the Suns" marked the first time Sterling's poetry attracted nationwide attention from critics.Sterling, "Memorial Day, 1901," Washington Post (May 26, 1901), p. 26; Sterling, "To Critics Asking Lighter Songs," Harper's Monthly Magazine, v. 105 n. 628 (September 1902), p. 524. The national critical success of "The Testimony of the Suns" established Sterling's career as a poet.
Creation of the poem Influences on "The Testimony of the Suns" Sterling learned to love astronomy because "my dear dead father was greatly interested in it, and I've spent many hours on the house-top with him and his telescope." He marveled at planets, stars, and galaxies—apparently resting in peace but actually slowly and endlessly colliding with and destroying each other.Sterling March 22, 1902 letter to Ambrose Bierce, Dear Master: Letters of George Sterling to Ambrose Bierce, 1900 - 1912, Roger K. Larson, ed. (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 2002), pp. 28-31.
Another inspiration to Sterling was British author H. G. Wells, to whom he wrote: "I feel so far I've done only one thing worth of any one's attention—an astronomical poem I call ‘The Testimony of the Suns', written under the inspiration of your many references to the stars, notably that tremendous thing entitled ‘Under the Knife.' They (your references) thrill me like great poetry. No one loves them as I do. The sleeper gazing on the unchanged constellations—the Time Traveller aware of the star-drift [in Wells' novel The Time Machine]—how they make me ache!"Sterling October 13, 1904 letter to H. G. Wells: George Sterling, The Letters of George Sterling, Dalton Harvey Gross, ed. (PhD diss: Southern Illinois University, 1968), p. 538., p. 52. Wells' short story "Under the Knife" tells of a man under anesthesia for surgery who dies on the operating table. His consciousness floats out of his body, away from Earth, beyond our galaxy. Before the man is brought back to life, he sees our entire universe as a speck in an immense hand.H. G. Wells, "Under the Knife," first published in British magazine New Review v. 14 n. 83 (new series), (January 1896). First British book publication: H. G. Wells, The Plattner Story and Others (London: Methuen & Co., 1897). Sterling may have read "Under the Knife" in its first American book publication: Wells, Thirty Strange Stories (New York: Edward Arnold, 1897), pp. 183-204.
Sterling was an avid reader of Edgar Allan Poe's writings, so Poe's last book Eureka: A Prose Poem may have influenced "The Testimony of the Suns." Historians of science have claimed that in Eureka Poe was the first person to conceive a Newtonian evolving universe in which stars and galaxies are collapsing together.Molaro, P. & Cappi, A
Thomas Benediktsson in his book George Sterling said the poem was also influenced by German scientist-philosopher Ernst Haeckel's 1899 book Die Welträthsel (published in America as The Riddle of the Universe).Thomas E. Benediktsson, George Sterling (Boston: Twayne, 1980), p. 74. Ernst Haeckel, The Riddle of the Universe, Joseph McCabe, translator (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1900).
Writing process and reactions from friends Sometime after December 16, 1901, Sterling began to write a long poem depicting the galaxies and stars of "the stellar universe at strife, when to the eye it is a symbol of such peace and changelessness ...It surely is a war if the cosmic processes are viewed as a whole."Quotations from Sterling: March 22, 1902 letter to Ambrose Bierce, Dear Master, pp. 28-31. Began poem after December 16, 1901: Sterling March 4, 1902 letter to Bierce, Dear Master, p. 26.
Sterling wrote his poem during morning commutes to work from his house in Piedmont, writing in his head while riding one of his uncle Frank C. Havens' ferryboats across the bay to San Francisco, then polishing his verses during his twelve-minute walk from the Ferry Building up Market Street to Uncle Frank's corporate headquarters at 14 Sansome Street. Not until Sterling reached his large office and sat at his mammoth rolltop desk did he commit that morning's words to paper. His long poem's draft in his penciled neat handwriting eventually filled six small notebooks.Writing process: Ashton Stevens, "Ashton Stevens Interviews George Sterling, Poet" San Francisco Examiner (January 24, 1904), p. 43. Six notebooks: Unsigned, "Original Manuscripts Written by George Sterling, in the Possession of Rosaline [Reed] Travis," (undated), Albert Bender Papers, Special Collections, Olin Library, Mills College, Oakland, p. 9.
In early 1902 Sterling sent his untitled, not-yet-completed "star poem" to his mentor, the author and critic Ambrose Bierce. Bierce responded: "Where are you going to stop?—I mean at what stage of development? ...you are advancing at a stupendous rate. This last beats any and all that went before—or I am bewitched and befuddled. I dare not trust myself to say what I think of it. In manner it is great, but the greatness of the theme!—that is beyond anything. It is a new field—the broadest yet discovered. ...You must make it your domain. You shall be the poet of the skies, the prophet of the suns."Bierce March 15, 1902 letter to Sterling: Ambrose Bierce, The Letters of Ambrose Bierce, Bertha Clark Pope [and George Sterling, uncredited], eds. (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1922), reprinted (New York: Gordian Press, 1967), pp. 51-52.
Sterling worked on his star poem for more than a year, expanding it, sending drafts to Bierce for comments, and polishing every stanza. He showed a draft to astronomer Garrett P. Serviss to make sure his scientific terms and concepts were accurate.Sterling March 7, 1903 letter to Bierce, Dear Master, p. 41. In February 1903, Sterling finally finished "The Testimony of the Suns." It was 644 lines long, far too lengthy for any magazine. That month Sterling shared his poem with his closest friend, Jack London. Five years later London remembered how he felt when he first read the star poem. He wrote how Martin (a character London based on himself) echoed his own response after reading a similar star poem (written by a character London based on Sterling). London sneaks in Sterling's title "The Testimony of the Suns" in his fifth sentence below:
It was perfect art. Form triumphed over substance, if triumph it could be called where the last conceivable atom of substance had found expression in so perfect construction as to make Martin's head swim with delight, to put passionate tears into his eyes, and to send chills creeping up and down his back. It was a long poem of six or seven hundred lines, and it was a fantastic, amazing, unearthly thing. It was terrific, impossible; and yet there it was, scrawled in black ink across the sheets of paper. It dealt with man and his soul-gropings in their ultimate terms, plumbing the abysses of space for the testimony of remotest suns and rainbow spectrums. It was a mad orgy of imagination ...The poem swung in majestic rhythm to the cool tumult of interstellar conflict, to the onset of starry hosts, to the impact of cold suns and the flaming up of nebulae in the darkened void; and through it all, unceasing and faint, like a silver shuttle, ran the frail, piping voice of man, a querulous chip amid the screaming of planets and the crash of systems.
"There is nothing like it in literature," Martin said, when at last he was able to speak. "It's wonderful!—wonderful! It has gone to my head. I am drunken with it. ...I know I'm making a fool of myself, but the thing has obsessed me."Jack London, Martin Eden (several editions, 1908), Chapter 35.
In 1904, when Alexander M. Robertson published a second edition of Sterling's book The Testimony of the Suns and Other Poems, the poet made changes to the texts of "The Testimony of the Suns," creating a slightly different second version. In the book's 1907 third edition he made a few more changes. When Sterling prepared his star poem for inclusion in his 1923 Selected Poems collection, he changed his first line from "The winter sunset fronts the North...." to "The heavens darken in the North...." He changed appearances of the word "deems" to "thinks" or "dreams." He made more than twenty other changes, resulting in his fourth and final version of "The Testimony of the Suns."Robert W. Mattila, George Sterling: A Bibliography (Seattle: Book Club of Washington, 2004), section A27.
Subjects and structure of the poem During the time Sterling was writing "The Testimony of the Suns," his poem's subject seemed to change. Two-and-a-half months into writing it, he said: "the whole poem will be on life, or rather the human portion of life."Sterling March 4, 1902 letter to Bierce: Dear Master, p. 26. Two-and-a-half weeks later he explained: "As for God, I fear I'll have to leave him in. The poem being a polemic against those believing in Him, His presence was necessary."Sterling March 22, 1902 letter to Bierce: Dear Master, p. 29. Three months after that: "First, I hope it will be clear enough to the intellectual reader that my invocation to the stars is only an allegory of man's search of the universe for the secret of life ..."Sterling June 3, 1902 letter to Bierce: Dear Master, p. 33.
Sterling wrote "The Testimony of the Suns" using accentual-syllabic verse in iambic tetrameter rhythm, structured as four-line stanzas using the ABBA rhyme format. The same structure was used by Alfred, Lord Tennyson for his famous poem "In Memoriam A.H.H.," which led some critics to compare Sterling to Tennyson.
Sterling divided his long poem into three sections: an opening epigraph quoted from an Ambrose Bierce poem, and two parts labeled "I" and "II." The three sections together total 162 quatrains, or 651 lines including two dates and the epigraph's attribution to Bierce.
Opening quotation The opening epigraph quotes four lines from Ambrose Bierce's 1888 poem "Invocation," which Sterling later called Bierce's "one great poem, as noble an invocation as we have heard this side of the Atlantic."Sterling, "An Introduction," in Ambrose Bierce, An Invocation (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1928), p. ix.
Part I