Carolyn Forché's poetic career began when Ingenue magazine published her poem "Artisan Well" in October 1968. In January 1969 that magazine contained a feature article that Forché wrote about her work on the Paramount Studio film production of Romeo and Juliet (1968). All of this activity took place in her first year of undergraduate work at Justin Morrill College of Michigan State University, where she majored in creative writing, minored in English literature and French, and did work in international studies, philosophy, and history as well. In both 1970 and 1971 Forché won first prize in the Michigan State University poetry competition, and she continued to publish poems and critical reviews in magazines and journals.

Born in Detroit in 1950, Forché completed her B.A. in 1972 and began her M.F.A. at Bowling Green State University in Ohio in the fall of 1973. Between her teaching duties and studies...