Ars Geologia: Clarence King’s Poetic Shasta

But, for all his complexities, King’s recorded observations of wilderness places rise above his life’s convolutions. Unfortunately, what escapes many scholars is the remarkableness of King’s writing, an irony considering its salience; in fact, King’s brilliance is best illustrated in his lexical finesse, poetic flights of language, and artistic verisimilitude of nature’s beauties.