born Richard Hogan, He served in World War II as a bombardier in the Mediterranean. He left the service in 1945 after flying 35 combat missions and reaching the rank of first lieutenant.


Hugo’s "The Real West Marginal Way" is a collection of essays, generally autobiographical in nature, that detail his childhood, his military service, his poetics, and his teaching. Readers should be more than a little skeptical of Hugo’s autobiography, particular since he is a poet who believes that “(In the poem) the fact that ‘suicide’ sounds like ‘cascade’ is infinitely more important than what is being said." Of course, it’s all true—but it might not be entirely factual.