Books: Poets’ Pay

That poets have low incomes is no more news than that they are temperamental. But few people know just how little an eminent U. S. poet can expect to earn from his verse. Last week The Academy of American Poets released figures comparing the average annual earnings of poets with those of professional men, defining an established poet as one in middle life, with four volumes to his credit, and “unmistakably anointed by the muses.” From his books this unlucky genius can expect to get about $250 a year. Poems sold to magazines may bring him another $250. But that is the maximum, achieved by only three or four U. S. poets. Until he was 52, the late, great Edwin Arlington Robinson made less, called it a lucky year when his verse brought him $100.