In the spring of 1967, James Merrill taught a creative writing course in poetry at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Judith Moffett was a graduate student in the course. The two connected in Madison, and in the years that followed, during which Moffett completed her degree and embarked on a teaching career, Merrill served in the role of mentor, encouraging her writing and critiquing seriously the poems she sent him. Their friendship--conducted mainly through...