Poet and critic Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966) stunned the literary world with the breathtaking achievement of his first published volume in 1938, earning him adulation as "the American Auden." His early success raised critical expectations that Schwartz could never fulfill. Depression and alcoholism marked his later years. Through both his art and his tragic death, Schwartz influenced such literary legatees as John Berryman and Robert Lowell.

Delmore Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 8, 1913. His parents, Harry and Rose (Nathanson) Schwartz, were immigrants from Romania, part of the first great wave of Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe. Harry Schwartz grew prosperous in the real estate business, enabling the couple to move to an affluent Brooklyn neighborhood. When their first son was born, they gave him a traditional Jewish middle name, David, but a first name, Delmore, they intended to sound sophisticated and "American." Always sensitive about his first...