Each to the Other

This verse novel, published in 1939, documents several tragic events in the life of the central character, Thomas Cottrell. The author, however, begins his prologue by refuting the tragedy:
“Here is no tragedy. These are my days
Life-weighted, turned and measured in the scale
Of my own inches: only that, no atom more,
No plus or minus subscript to its sum.”
He again refutes it in the epilogue:
“Tragedy?
No, I have loved and married and been loved,
And these are mine forever, past all death...”
There are several autobiographical elements in the author's depiction of Thomas Cottrell, including his upbringing in an artistic household.

Christopher La Farge (born 10 December 1897) was one of the most prolific verse novelists of his generation. He interrupted his studies at Harvard to volunteer for the army and served as second lieutenant in the infantry. He later qualified as an architect but abandoned that profession due to the severe downturn of the Great Depression. His first novel was published in 1934. For his second novel (this one) he was awarded the A.C. Benson Silver Medal by the Royal Society of Literature. It was also shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. During the Second World War, he worked as a war correspondent for Harper’s magazine, writing informative short stories on the war in the Pacific. These stories were published in an anthology in 1944 under the title East by Southwest.

In this novel Thomas Cottrell experiences the breakdown of his parents’ marriage and the deaths of four loved ones. The first of those deaths comes in the context of his war service. Tom and his college friend, Sam Allen, opt for aviation in preference to the infantry:
            “Let's fly," I said. “That's a clean, sudden death.”
           “Oh, death!" said Sam. “The hell with it, my boy.
            Somebody else, perhaps, uh-uh, not me.
            We'll fly and live.”
                                     “O.K., we'll live,” I said.
           “We'll join together, what?”
                                                  “You bet," he said.
           “Let's stick together.”
 They left Harvard together and signed up at Long Island for the aviation section but were lated separated into different training units. Instead he befriends Martin Fenton as they learn to fly. During training in Texas, Martin crashed and died of his injuries in hospital. Tom responded by turning to his girlfriend for solace:
                                                  I wrote to Judith again,
                      I felt as if Martin made me begin that letter,
                     Though I wanted to write it. The hand didn't guide the pen,
                     The pen ran away with the hand. A silly letter,
                     Proposing marriage, or more truly, demanding,
                     To save my life from the loneliness that his death.
                     Left inside me.
Her response was firm:
                    Write to me as a woman you love and not
                    As a hot-water-bottle to warm your present illness;
                    Write when the war is over and you've forgotten
                    The war's dramatics.
He crashed his plane soon after receiving her letter ("I'd had a letter, it ran in my head... It took my mind off the job of flying.”). Like many who trained for aviation, he was discharged as an invalid before he saw active service.