SOURCE: Wilbur, Richard. “On My Own Work.” Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Quarterly Review 27, no. 1 (autumn 1965): 57-67.

In the following essay, Wilbur discusses his poem “A Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Schiarra.”

Since the second World War, the American people have come to accept the poetry reading as a legitimate and frequently satisfying kind of artistic performance. Prior to the 1940's there were, to be sure, a few vivid or beloved figures to whom our audiences were glad to listen: Robert Frost, with his New England wit and accent; Carl Sandburg with his guitar; Edna Millay in her white dress; Vachel Lindsay with his camp-meeting style and his tambourines. But the public attitude toward the verse recital has now so matured that any poet, whether or not he qualifies as a platform personality, is likely to find himself on a platform several times a year. Sometimes it...