Beginner's Guide to Lovecraft: What is "Cyclopean?"

Some of you may not think that the horror writing of H. P. Lovecraft should go hand in hand with powerful narcotics.

I say you can't know until you've tried it.

Here's a tip. Lovecraft loves referring to things as Cyclopean, especially architecture. If you're like me, the only Cyclops you recall from literature lived in a cave and had an intense hatred of Odysseus. Not helpful. No, what Lovecraft means is this:

Cyclopean, adj.
Of or constituting a primitive style of masonry characterized by the use of massive stones of irregular shape and size.

Combine this with Lovecraft's abiding love of the color "blackish green" and of originless slime and you have the perfect idea of what Cthulhu's metropolis looks like. My Vicodin is telling me that originless slime is called "ectoplasm" and was a frequent characteristic sought by paranormal researchers in cases of hauntings and, in particular, seances. Modern audiences probably best remember ectoplasm as a delicious flavor of Hi-C that serves as a promotional tie-in with the film and cartoon Ghostbusters named for the sticky substance that coats Bill Murray's character head to toe in a hotel hallway and gives origin of the phrase "He slimed me, Ray."