“Poetry is still my first and last love.”

Summing up the enduring importance of poetry throughout her life and career · Letter to Harriet Monroe, 1938

• Life
• Love
• Poetry

“And will you remember that my only unfulfilled longing is to have the lead in Poetry?”

A candid expression of literary ambition from an editor who was also determined to be recognised as a poet · Letter to Harriet Monroe, 29 May 1924

• Fame
• Longing
• Poetry

“I'm terribly homesick for Poetry and Chicago and you!”

Revealing her deep attachment to Poetry magazine, Chicago and her literary friendships · Letter to Harriet Monroe, 15 April 1915

• Friendship
• Home
• Poetry

“But from that evening some floodgate had broken in me and I was beginning to be awake.”

Describing the transformative effect of discovering a living community devoted to poetry · Memoir, The World at My Shoulder, 1938

• Experience
• Growth
• Poetry

“Poetry is a living thing. I am not alone in the world today, nor am I touched by the sun. Poetry is alive.”

Expressing her awakening to poetry as a vital force rather than something confined to books · Memoir, The World at My Shoulder, 1938

• Life
• Poetry
• Wonder