Friday, January 13, 2006

From Devil in the White City, Erik Larson

'This was a big day for Miss Monroe. She had composed a lengthy poem for the event, her "Columbian Ode," and pestered her many powerful friends into having it placed on the day's program....Unlike the majority of the audience, Monroe believed the poem to be rather a brilliant work, so much so that she had hired a printer to produce five thousand copies for sale to the public. She sold few and attributed the debacle to America's fading love of poetry.

That winter she burned the excess copies for fuel.' (1892)

2 comments:

Simmons B. Buntin said...

I'd blame it on academia---you know, not accepting of the self-publishing lot...!

Suzanne said...

*LOL*!