{"id":1577,"date":"2012-04-20T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T18:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2014-01-10T10:58:45","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T14:58:45","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-january-24-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-january-24-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: January 24, 1981 (misdated January 24, 1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-01-24-1980\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-01-24-1980\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

January 24, 1980 [misdated, should be 1981<\/em>]
\nDear Don,<\/p>\n

Thanks very much for your letter from The Atlantic<\/span> and the
\ncheck. I thought Davison had taken “Old Trees” instead of “Trees
\nThat Pass Us,” and so I am twice surprised. Anyway, it is
\nawfully good to be appearing in that magazine.
\nAlso, thanks for your words about my “bad patch,” I’d
\nhope to be reborn soon, as the lack of sleep alone is killing me.
\nI am very sorry to learn of your own current bad patch.
\nLest whatever “guilt” you may refer to makes you feel like a
\nbad man, please remember that you have saved my life
\nas a poet, and continue too do so. Whoever may be taking notes
\non us both has a whole page about that.<\/p>\n

I am in the process of rewriting “A Dream of Herman,”
\nand I have the thing done except for the last line. The problem
\nis, I still like the line, I knew it was perfect iambic
\npentameter when I wrote it, and I liked the way the poem
\nfound its way to the line, resolving itself in content and form.
\nI feel that way now. I sense you do not like the perfection
\nof the line, meter, especially given the lack of meter in the
\nrest of the poem (except for the movement toward iambic
\nin the next-to-last line). What really worries me is that you
\nseem so sure of your position in this, since that usually
\nmeans I am dead wrong. Yes, I say, I like the
\nline and am therefore unable to find a suitable alternative
\nfor it. I even like \u201clovely,\u201d because for me the reference to
\n\u201ctrees\u201d gives the word a definition it wouldn\u2019t ordinarily have\/
\ntakes away the vagueness you have mentioned.<\/p>\n

I may very well be unable to see the poem clearly because
\nof my closeness to the material. I do know the tendency toward
\nsentimentality one has with this stuff. Perhaps that is what you
\nhear coming through in that last, perfect line. (Maybe you
\nhear sentimentality in other pieces?) I thought I was
\nsaved from sentimentality of the closeness of the ride to a
\nhearse ride, and by certain lines which conjure up Herman,
\nand half suggest, at the same time, that he isn\u2019t there (\u201cas if
\njust back\u201d \u201cbreathing the scale,\u201d etc.)<\/p>\n

Please tell me more if you can, about the last line!
\nI need to see it better. The shortest note will do\u2026
\nWould it be any help to get rid of the first \u201cas\u201d?<\/p>\n

Thanks to you and Joseph again for The Atlantic<\/span>
\npublication!<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/p>\n

P.S. Manuscript is now out to other places\u2014U.
\nAlabama and the National Poetry Contest. Next month
\nis just Yale and Princeton <\/del>Pittsburg\u2014again! Will soon be
\nsending ten (published) poems to the Discovery\/Nation
\ncontest.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n\n
\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] January 24, 1980 [misdated, should be 1981] Dear Don, Thanks very much for your letter from The Atlantic and the check. I thought Davison had taken “Old Trees” instead of “Trees That Pass Us,” and so I am twice surprised. Anyway, it is awfully good to be appearing in that magazine. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35323,35504,42976,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11520,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions\/11520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}