Books: $1,000 Poem

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As some of the world already knows too well, the symbol of New York City's forthcoming World's Fair is a heroic abstraction from solid geometry: a Trylon & Perisphere (a 700-ft. triangular spire and 200-ft. globe). Between now and March 15th, a lot of U. S. poets will try to translate that symbol into verse. Their incentive: a $1,000 first prize (and five additional prizes of $100 each) offered by the Academy of American Poets for the Fair's Official Poem. Judges: William Rose Benet, Louis Untermeyer, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. For U. S. poets, the first prize is big money indeed—twice their average yearly earnings, about three times Poet Laureate John Masefield's yearly pay, equaled only once before, when Harriet Monroe, late editor of Poetry, wangled $1,000 for her official ode on the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

All contestants will name their poems (three allowed per poet) The World of Tomorrow, after the Fair's optimistic theme. Since poets today are not noted for their optimistic outlook, the Fair's prize competition raises one of the most interesting poetic questions of the year.