Dear Editor,
Surely the devil is in the details just as much as the details are in the devil. In the October issue, Don Share suggests that Elizabeth Bishop first met Robert Lowell "in late 1946 or early 1947." Thomas Travisano, in his introduction to the Lowell/Bishop letters, fixes the date as January, 1947, which is also the date mentioned by Lowell's biographer, Paul Mariani.
In his review of the late Sarah Hannah's book, Jason Guriel says that she was a "one-time nominee for Yale Younger Poet." Hannah was a semi-finalist for the Yale Younger Poets prize, not a nominee. There are no nominees. Poetry books often carry the cheerful information that the author has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Surely it's time to blow this gaff. The authors have been nominated all right—they've been nominated by their own publishers.
Surely the devil is in the details just as much as the details are in the devil. In the October issue, Don Share suggests that Elizabeth Bishop first met Robert Lowell "in late 1946 or early 1947." Thomas Travisano, in his introduction to the Lowell/Bishop letters, fixes the date as January, 1947, which is also the date mentioned by Lowell's biographer, Paul Mariani.
In his review of the late Sarah Hannah's book, Jason Guriel says that she was a "one-time nominee for Yale Younger Poet." Hannah was a semi-finalist for the Yale Younger Poets prize, not a nominee. There are no nominees. Poetry books often carry the cheerful information that the author has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Surely it's time to blow this gaff. The authors have been nominated all right—they've been nominated by their own publishers.
Gainsville, Florida
Originally Published: October 24, 2008
Poem of the Day: The Tree Frogs
Letter to the Editor