Symphonies: 'Because I dare dream yet of joy''

John Gould Fletcher was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on 3rd January 1886 to a socially prominent family.

He was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover before advancing to Harvard University which he attended from 1903 to 1907, before dropping out after his father's death.

As a young man Fletcher spent many years in England where he became part of the influential Imagist group of poets together with Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound.

His first marriage came from a resumed relationship with the now ma...