SOURCE: “Rejoinder,” in American Literature, Vol. 17, No. 1, March 1945, pp. 267-69.

In the following response to Francis Allen's review of his 1943 edition of Thoreau's Collected Poems, Bode agrees that the poem “Carpe Diem” is not from Thoreau's hand, but says that many of the textual inaccuracies that Allen suggested be fixed reflect Thoreau's own errors, which Bode sought to preserve as a matter of literary and historical record.

I am sincerely grateful to Mr. Allen for his interest in the Collected Poems, and it is pleasant indeed to have an opportunity to acknowledge that fact. When, in time to come, I prepare a second edition, I shall be glad to bear in mind the points he has raised. Actually, all I should want to do in the ordinary course of events is merely to evaluate and accept his corrections and not to write any general rejoinder whatsoever. The most...