Poems

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927 Second American edition (first edition published in 1920). Presentation copy, signed by Hemingway on front free endpaper, with "Hemingway" in Hemingway's hand; the first part of the inscription "7/28 - 1928" / From Ernest" is in another hand, likely the recipient, Hemingway's cousin Ruth White Lowry, whose ownership inscription tops the same page. Blue cloth-backed patterned cream boards printed in blue and green; lacking the original dust jacket. About very good, with light rubbing to front spine joint, titles on spine almost completely faded, some light staining to upper edges of boards with some pages mildly affected, toning to edges, and corners rubbed to boards. Overall, an excellent association copy. From the personal library of Hemingway's cousin, Ruth White Lowry. [bib] Poems is T. S. Eliot's second volume of poetry, published three years after his debut volume, Prufrock and Other Observations (1917). Poems contains new work such as "Gerontion," "The Hippopotamus," "Whispers of Immortality," and "Sweeney Among the Nightingales," as well as poems from Prufrock, including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Portrait of a Lady," and "La Figlia Che Pianga." T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965) is recognized as perhaps the greatest modernist poet, whose groundbreaking works "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," The Waste Land (1922), and Four Quartets (1936 - 1942) had a seismic impact on the literary landscape. Eliot was also extremely influential as a literary critic, having changed the lens through which poetry was viewed and understood with essays like "Tradition and the Individual Talent" (1919). In 1948, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ernest Hemingway never met T. S. Eliot, yet he returned to the poet continually throughout his career, both to mock and draw literary inspiration from him. Both writers were "discovered" and mentored by Ezra Pound, who had a remarkably discerning eye for literary greatness (Pound also helped nurture the talents of James Joyce, Robert Frost, and H.D.). In 1922, Pound brought Eliot's The Waste Land to Hemingway's attention and provided him with special insight into the poem's autobiographical foundations. While Hemingway respected Eliot's ability as a poet, he often disparaged Eliot as a person, mocking him for his effete character. His ambivalent feelings toward Eliot can be summed in a line from a 1950 letter he wrote to his friend Harvey Breit, "[Eliot's] a damned good poet and a fair critic; but he can kiss my ass as a man and he never hit a ball out of the infield in his life." (the latter remark was a reference to Yogi Berra, who, like Eliot, was from St. Louis). It has been theorized that Hemingway's short story, "Mr. and Mrs. Elliot," was a jab at T. S. Eliot and his wife, deriding their sexual relationship. In the essay "Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot: A Tangled Relationship" (2012), J. M. Flora explores Hemingway's complex feelings towards Eliot, noting thinly veiled critiques that Hemingway made about Eliot in some of his works, including Death in the Afternoon (1932) and A Moveable Feast (1964), while pointing out the clear influence of Eliot's poetry, particularly The Waste Land (1922), in sections of The Sun Also Rises (1926), Green Hills of Africa (1935), Across the River and Into the Trees (1950), and Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants" (1927). Flora writes, "[Hemingway] became adept at mocking the poet. Regardless, he continued to read, to ponder, and to remember Eliot's poetry and his criticism. Hemingway became Eliot's irreverent disciple." This copy of Poems was dated July 28, 1928 by Ruth White Lowry, one month after Ernest and Pauline's second child, Patrick, was born at the Lowry home outside Kansas City. The couple stayed at Ernest's Aunt Arabell's home in Mission Hills leading up to the birth, before moving to Ruth's and her husband Malcolm's home because of tension between Ernest and Arabell. Around the time that this copy was dated, Hemingway was likely at the Folly Ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming, working intensely on A Farewell to Arms. . Signed. Second American Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good.