SOURCE: Davison, Peter. “Speak of the World's Own Change: Richard Wilbur, 1955-1957.” In The Fading Smile: Poets in Boston, 1955-1960, from Robert Frost to Robert Lowell to Sylvia Plath, pp. 58-79. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

This biographical essay explores the influence of several Boston poets on Wilbur's poetry, including John Ciardi, Archibald MacLeish, and Sylvia Plath.

“love Calls Us to the Things of This World”

          The eyes open to a cry of pulleys, And spirited from sleep, the astounded soul Hangs for a moment bodiless and simple As false dawn.                                                             Outside the open window The morning air is all awash with angels. 

          Some are in bed-sheets, some are in blouses, Some are in smocks: but truly there they are. Now they are rising together in calm swells Of halcyon feeling, filling whatever they wear With the deep joy of their impersonal breathing; 

          Now they are flying in...