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An irreverent Hart Crane pokes fun at fellow poets Louis Gilmore and Marianne Moore, the presiding editor of The Little Review, in this bawdy letter to Allen Tate…

My work is great; my work is a way of salvation. I have died for everything trifling now; must I commit unforgivable crimes with daily rubbish for the contemptible vulgar business of a journal?

What deceit! It’s sad. But I’ve got to keep still. To speak would create a scandal…

In this letter, a young William Carlos Williams shows how delightfully he can turn a phrase before delving into his fascination with the accuracy of scientific instruments, an interest which would go on to define his poetics. Univ. of Penn. … Continued

Here, an older Thomas Carlyle writes to his mother, commenting on the ongoing Irish Potato Famine, before considering how his wealth has contributed to a lull in his literary production. Chelsea My dear good Mother, I purposed often, last week, … Continued

Here, Hermann Hesse writes to Thomas Mann, his co-defender of the German humanistic tradition during the harrowing pivots and pitfalls of the 20th century. Mann, then living in a Weimar Republic rapidly falling to fascism, would join Hesse in exile … Continued

In the letter below, an exuberant Elizabeth Barrett Browning writes to Robert Browning, who she would marry the following year. Elizabeth Barrett Browning describes the ebbing of her depression, and, affirming the virtues of suffering, draws a parallel between her … Continued

James Wright writes to his ten-year-old son, Franz Wright, who, like his father, would go on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet…