Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

"Mr. Field found his calling by happenstance. As a newly enlisted soldier boarding a troop train during World War II, he was handed a bag..."

althouse.blogspot.com · 7dShare

"... by a Red Cross worker. It contained a toothbrush, a comb, a candy bar and an anthology of poetry. 'I was on that train for three days,' he said in a 2022 interview for this obituary. 'I read it over and over. I knew immediately that I was going to be a poet. He was just 18 and had never read a book of poetry...." From "Edward Field, Bohemian New York Poet, Dies at 102/His colloquial language, emotionality and gay topics brought him widespread praise, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship and other literary honors" (NYT gift link). I'd like to see that anthology. It seems that the book was "The Pocket Book of Verse: Great English and American Poems," which contained 249 poems by 77 poets: There are inspirational poems like Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” and Richard Lovelace’s “To Althea, From Prison.”... There are inspirational passages from The Bible, like the famous Psalm 23.... There are poems about soldiers like Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!” and Tennyson’s “The Charge of

First report: Edward Field, Bohemian New York Poet, Dies at 102 — nytimes.com, 8d