American poet Edward Dorn was born April 2, 1929, in Villa Grove, Illinois. Edward Dorn attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina for several years, receiving a BA in 1954. Although poets associated with the college have often been grouped together as the "Black Mountain poets," Dorn has suggested: "I think I'm rightly associated with the Black Mountain “school,” not because of the way I write, but because I was there." Dorn's most influential and highly acclaimed work was the four-volume epic poem, Slinger, which evolved from his earlier poem, "An Idle Visitation." Edward Dorn died December 10, 1999 in Denver, Colorado.
"Edward Dorn." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Biography Resource Center). http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioR (accessed June 2008).
The three letters written by Edward Dorn are addressed to Clarence Major, Dave Schaff, and Louis Rowan. Additionally there are four poems (two of which are on a single sheet), titled "Nature their passing bell: an atonement," "A Vague Love," "Another Vague Love," and "In the Shadow."