“I couldn't write a poem to save my life, ” he declared aged 35, when a “literary hack” of minor biographies and travel memoirs, struggling to support a wife and three children.

“我没法靠写诗养家糊口 。”他在35岁时如是说。当时他是一位“受雇文人”，写一些短篇传记和游记，艰难地供养妻子和三个孩子。