A Shelf of One's Own

I believe them now: Robert Frost WAS cranky: INTERVIEWER Well, you once said in my hearing that Robert Lowell had tried to connect you with Faulkner, told you you were a lot like Faulkner. FROST Did I say that? INTERVIEWER No, you said that Robert Lowell told you that you were a lot like Faulkner. (Whole interview here )

An arresting title from Aquinas' Summa Theologica: Article 6. Whether penance is a second plank after shipwreck? This is surely the title of a poem. Apparently it's from St. Jerome.

Will you come and visit me next year? I shall undoubtedly have a large circle of witty and interesting friends by then and life will be on a very high plane – elegant, literary, and in perfect order… On the roofs of the brick houses and on the island in the pond there will be all sorts of romantic musicians, and supper will be served on the island too – strung with lanterns. It will be very pleasant, reminiscent of Venice, and the Last Days of Rome and the Chinese Emperors, with a bit of Coney Island thrown in. - Elizabeth Bishop to Frani Blough, 1934