On October 3, 1947, Marianne Moore wrote to her brother about a dinner party she had attended the night before, given by Margaret Mitchell, the literary editor of The Nation:

I was overwhelmed—crabmeat in alligator pears, each a half broiled chicken, delicate peas, salad, & real pears & cheese. I was put by Stephen Spender who is quite a treat; he knew Yeats, knows Mr. Auden & T. S. Eliot well, and then afterward Louise Bogan came in & others. She has reviewed me twice you know very boldly & ardently… . Then I came home quite late—11:15 & found a telegram from Barbara Howes & William Smith—he’s a poet & Rhodes Scholar—they are being married today, before he goes to Oxford—& invite me to a small party at 8:30 & I b’lieve I’ll go.

She did indeed go to that wedding party, where she was, as she often w ...

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