Dear Editor: A History of Poetry in Letters: The First Fifty Years, 1912-1962; Edited and compiled by Joseph Parisi and Stephen Young; Introductions and Commentary by Joseph Parisi; Foreword by Billy Collins

Parisi, Joseph; Young, Stephen, editors and compilers

ISBN 10: 0393050920 / ISBN 13: 9780393050929

Published by W. W. Norton & Co, New York, 2002

About this Item

xix, [3], 473 p.: illustrations; 24 cm. Brown and beige cover with gilt-stamped spine title. Illustrated dust jacket. Contains over 600 letters to and from the editors of the magazine Poetry from its founding in 1912 through 1962. The founder and earliest editor was poet and literary critic Harriet Monroe (1860-1936). A fascinating collection of letters offering a view of the development of 20th-century poetry. Book is in Fine Condition: clean and bright. Dust Jacket is in Near Fine Condition: edges lightly rubbed; clean and bright.

Seller Inventory # 006894

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dear Editor: A History of Poetry in Letters: The First Fifty Years, 1912-1962; Edited and compiled by Joseph Parisi and Stephen Young; Introductions and Commentary by Joseph Parisi; Foreword by Billy Collins
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co, New York
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393050920
• ISBN 13: 9780393050929
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: near fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

Poignant, hilarious, and brutally frank, Dear Editor reveals the personalities and untold stories behind the creation of modern poetry.

"The history of poetry and Poetry in America are almost interchangeable, certainly inseparable," A. R. Ammons wrote. Dear Editor, in gathering over 600 surprisingly candid letters to and from the editors of Poetry, traces the development of poetry in America: Ezra Pound's opinion of T. S. Eliot ("It is such a comfort to meet a man and not have to tell him to wash his face, wipe his feet") and of Robert Frost ("dull as ditch water...[but] set to be 'literchure' someday"); Edna St. Vincent Millay's pleas for an advance ("I am become very, very thin, and have taken to smoking Virginia tobacco"); Wallace Stevens on himself ("I have a pretty well-developed mean streak"). Here are the inside stories, the rivalries between aspiring authors, the inspirations behind classics, the practicalities (and politicking) of publishing. In fascinating anecdotes and literary gossip, scores of poets offer insights into the creative process and their reactions to historic events.

About the Authors

Joseph Parisi, editor in chief of Poetry, has been on the magazine's staff for over twenty-five years.

Stephen Young is senior editor of Poetry.

Billy Collins was the Poet Laureate of the United States and the State of New York. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College and a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute. A Literary Lion of the New York Public Library and author of many collections of poetry, including Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds and Horoscopes for the Dead, he lives in Westchester, New York.