Donald Evans, a prominent figure in the avant-garde literary group that gathered in Greenwich Village before World War I, is known chiefly for his sharp satiric poems that captured the village's bohemian life. His part in that group is as important to literary history as his poetry. In fact, it is generally believed that the impression he made, rather than his poetry, accounts for his impact on the times. Describing the real Donald Evans is difficult, for he was a great poseur. Biographers of his better-known contemporaries (such as Carl Van Vechten and Wallace Stevens) refer to him as "unconventional" and "oddball."

Little is known of the details of Evans's private life. Born in Philadelphia in 1884, a direct descendant of William Penn, he attended Haverford College. In 1905 he began his lifelong career in newspaper work when he joined the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer. By 1912 he had...