John Gould Fletcher Collection (VMF052)

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Fletcher to Richard [Church] stating his great concern for the situation in which Church had found himself at Oxted and gives him advice

Arnold Dawson, literary editor for the Daily Herald, to Richard Church, asking for a review of Fletcher's collection of poems, The Black Rock

Beverley Githens Dresbach (Mrs. Glen Ward) to Richard Church commenting primarily on Fletcher, with brief mention of a book, The Squirrel Called Rufus, and of the author of the magazine clipping enclosed in her letter

The Quality of Greatness by Richard Church [review of The Black Rock by Fletcher]

Photograph of Fletcher and Glen Ward Dresbach

Clipping from the Ozarks Mountaineer, remarking on television as a medium for contemporary poets, but the unlikelihood of such a thing occuring

Fletcher to Marvin Magalaner, Pasadena, California, directing him to Life Is My Song, Fletcher's autobiography, for information on the relationship between Fletcher and Harold Munro

Fletcher to Edward and Constance Wagner, Johnswood, Little Rock, Arkansas, commenting on Melville, book Fletcher has read and those he wants to read, on Charlie May [Simon's] illness, and on his lecture assignment in Seattle

Fletcher to Edward and Constance Wagner, Johnswood, Little Rock, Arkansas, thanking them for their hospitality and mentioning that Charlie May [Simon] has sent off her manuscript

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Title: John Gould Fletcher Collection (VMF052), 1928-1962

Predominant Dates:1928-1962

ID: MSS/VMF/052

Primary Creator: Fletcher, John Gould (1886-1950)

Extent: 7.0 Items

Date Acquired: 12/20/1968

Languages: English

John Gould Fletcher (January 3, 1886 – May 10, 1950) was an Imagist poet, author and authority on modern painting. Some of Fletcher’s works include Irradiations: Sand and Spray (1915); Goblins and Pagodas (1916); The Black Rock (1928); Selected Poems (1938), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1939; and The Burning Mountain (1946).

Fletcher was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to a socially prominent family. After attending Phillips Academy, Andover, Fletcher went on to Harvard University from 1903 to 1907, when he dropped out shortly after his father's death.  Fletcher lived in England for a large portion of his life. While in Europe he associated with Amy Lowell, Ezra Pound, and other Imagist poets, he was one of the six Imagists who adopted the name and stuck to it until their aims were achieved.

In the late 1920s and 1930s, Fletcher was active with a group of 11 other Southern writers and poets known as the Southern Agrarians. This group published the classic Agrarian manifesto I'll Take My Stand, a collection of essays rejecting Modernity and Industrialism. In 1937, he wrote his autobiography, Life is My Song, and in 1947 he published Arkansas, a beautifully written history of his home state.

Repository: MSS Manuscripts

Access Restrictions: Open

Use Restrictions:

Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.

If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)

Acquisition Source: Purchase from the House of Books and Henry Wenning

Acquisition Method:

Originally laid in The Black Rock by John Gould Fletcher  PS3511 L457 B54 1928a

Accession number 1015 - Purchase from the House of Books, December 30, 1968.

Accession number 1094 - Purchase from Henry Wenning, October 13, 1969. (Correspondence from Fletcher to the Wagners and Magalaner)

Preferred Citation: Name of the Collection, Washington University Libraries, Department of Special Collections

Processing Information: Processed September-October 1969