Letters to Four Very Dead and Deeply Flawed Poets

In this sweeping portrait of four literary rebels-W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Dylan Thomas-modern poetry's triumphant leaps and tragic falls are laid bare. From Pound's Imagist manifesto and treacherous wartime broadcasts to Yeats' mystical salons and complicated loves, their ambitions reshaped verse and provoked scandal. Millay, the Jazz Age icon and first female Pulitzer laureate, defied convention with fiercely honest sonnets and social crusades, while Thomas, the Welsh firebrand, burned through his life with raw emotion, unforgettable lines, and a tortured passion for words and booze. Through secret diaries, public triumphs, and posthumous reckonings, this book unravels their intertwined legacies, exploring how genius courted controversy and desire fuelled creation. Vividly researched and poignantly told, it reveals the intimate struggles behind their public myths-proof that poetry's greatest power often springs from its creators' most flawed and fervent selves-and their enduring influence on generations to come.