I only read one story by Delmore Schwartz entitled, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities”. It was first published in 1937. It’s about a boy who is dreaming about being in a movie theater who is watching the courtship of his parents on the screen. As the boy watches, he starts to get upset. He yells at the screen, trying to get the attention of his future parents to stop. The audience begins to think he is crazy. He is finally removed from the theater by an usher who reprimands him. He wakes up from his dream, obviously upset. I would say that his dream reflects his own insecurity, because at the end of the story, it notes that it is the morning of his 21st birthday.

In 1962, Delmore Schwartz began teaching creative writing at Syracuse University. One of his students was future songwriter Lou Reed (Take A Walk On The Wild Side), who dedicated several songs to his mentor (European Son). Schwartz told Reed at one point, “You can write-and if you ever sell out, and there’s a heaven from which you can be haunted, I will haunt you.” Reed never forgot this. He attended Schwartz’s funeral in 1966, and years later in his song, “My House”, Reed tells the story of a ghost in his new home who spells D-E-L-M-O-R-E on an Ouija board, and who doesn’t spook him, but instead inspires him.