“Harriet Monroe was a pioneer. She was brave. She had to be to steer her venture through hard times. She was kind to the authors whose manuscripts she had to reject. She was the correspondent, counselor, friend of poets. Her tastes were catholic. Her influence was great and beneficent.”—The New York Times
News of Harriet Monroe's death flashed across the continents, leaving the Poetry staff and poetry world bereft of their greatest champion. The November 1936 issue was pulled from the press and notice of a December number in memoriam of Monroe was hastily inserted. Condolences flooded the Poetry office and within an instant a tribute was made by her many ardent friends and colleagues.
Now, seventy years after the appearance of that historic issue in memory of Harriet Monroe, we've made it available as a slide show, glittered with remembrances by Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, and Marianne Moore, among others. It is in time for her December 23 birthday, and with
gratitude, that we once again express our tremendous debt to her service for the art.
The editorial staff of the Poetry Foundation. See the Poetry Foundation staff list and editorial team masthead.