“She taught me to listen and appreciate the blackbird's song and when I grew to love it beyond all others she said it was because I was born in a blackbird's nest.”

Shows how his mother's imagination helped shape his lifelong attention to birdsong · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Imagination
• Motherhood
• Nature

“The silly verse accomplished its end.”

A dry assessment of his first successful exercise in practical poetry · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Childhood
• Humour
• Poetry

“I do my best work in Spring. I have had many disappointments in life and many sorrows, but in my saddest moment song came to me and I sang.”

Presents writing as a source of consolation amid sorrow · Autobiographical letter to Lewis Chase, 6 June 1917

• Consolation
• Sorrow
• Writing