Many poets, writers, and composers have heeded his call to be unafraid, to take risks, and to be open to "the air [that] has a good flavor to [their] my palate.” (Song of Myself, 24) Poets and writers, DH Lawrence, William Carlos Williams, Hart Crane, Langston Hughes and Ezra Pound felt that he was the American poet ) Many 20th century composers honored his work by adapting his poetry to their music: Ralph Vaughn Williams, Kurt Weill, and Leonard Bernstein, to name a few