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Typescript draft with corrections of "For John Ciardi: Thanks 30 Years Late from the 3rd Poet" by May Swenson.

For John Ciardi: Thanks 30 Years Late from the 3rd Poet. Swenson thanks John Ciardi for helping to get her noticed in her field and for encouraging her with her first book. Swenson refers to herself as the third poet because her first book was part…

Meeting Sylvia Plath at Yaddo. Swenson mentions that she met Plath at Yaddo in the fall of 1959. She went to dinner at the home Plath shared with Ted Hughes. Plath was in bed ,ill and pregnant, so Swenson met her at her bedside. They had a quick…

A Matter of Diction. Swenson writes about the last time she met with Marianne Moore and how revealing the interview was. Swenson marvels at how Moore gives perceptions about things without emphasizing self as a subject. To Swenson, Moore is modest,…

Typescript draft of "The Experience of Poetry in a Scientific Age" by May Swenson as part of the Voice of American forum lectures series, "American Poetry," circa 1965.

A Poem Happens to Me. Swenson talks about the process in which she writes poems. She says that many times she is suddenly inspired to create a poem . She finds it difficult to write on a schedule. Swenson reviews some of her earlier work and gives…

Typescript draft with corrections of "Our Seven Senses and How to Stay Human" by May Swenson given at annual meeting of the Northeast Regional Conference on English in the Two-Year College at Nassau Community College, October 17, 1980.

Shape Poems, reading given at Washington University and University of Arizona, February 12, 1965. Swenson lectures about how she constructs shapes for some of her poems. Swenson calls attention to a few of her own poems that she eventually shaped.…

What's the Use of Poetry?, Pitt Press Poetry Conference, March 1967. Swenson debates if poetry influences society and opens the readers minds to what is happening in society.

Recommendation for Donald Finkel for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, December 1, 1965. Swenson tells how long she has know Finkel and his wife, Constance Urdang. Swenson met them on a visit to Washington University in St. Louis. She…