Archive for the 'Poetry Legends Revealed' Category

Did Robert Lowell Once Live in a Tent on His Mentor’s Lawn?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Robert Lowell famously responded literally to a joking suggestion by famed poetry professor Allen Tate that […]

Were Dorothy Parker’s Ashes Kept in a Filing Cabinet for Two Decades?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Dorothy Parker’s ashes sat in a filing cabinet for nearly two decades. Dorothy Parker was one […]

Was The Word “Bull” in a Longfellow Poem Really Bowlderized to “Gentleman Cow”?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Thomas Bowdler “bowdlerized” Longfellow’s “Wreck of the Hesperus” by editing “bull” to “gentleman cow.” Thomas Bowdler […]

Did Wallace Stephens Convert to Catholicism Before He Died?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Poet Wallace Stevens converted to Catholicism before he died. The idea of someone converting to another […]

Were Some of Shel Silverstein’s Poems for Children Originally Published in Playboy?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Some of Shel Silverstein’s poems for Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic […]

Was the Famed Poet Marianne Moore Hired to Name the Car That Would Ultimately be Known as the Edsel?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Marianne Moore was asked to come up with a name for the brand of car that […]

Was Djuna Barnes’ Novel, Nightwood, Named By T.S. Eliot?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: The famed poet T.S. Eliot came up with the name for Djuna Barnes’ classic novel, Nightwood. […]

Did the Founder of the Modern Olympics Also Happen to Win the First Olympic Gold Medal for Literature?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: The first winner of an Olympic Gold medal for Literature went to a poem written by […]

Did an Irish Poet Sneak An Insult Into a Seemingly Patriotic Poem?

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to poetry and poets and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all poetry legends featured so far. POETRY URBAN LEGEND: Oliver St. John Gogarty wrote a poem dedicated to the returning Irish soldiers from the Boer […]