a gentleman named Phil Stone would fall in love with Estelle’s friend, Katrina. As a result, Katrina had told Stone about Faulkner and his poetry. So one afternoon, Stone walked to Faulkner’s home to get acquainted, and during his visit he received several written verses from Faulkner’ poetry collections: "Anybody could have seen that he (Faulkner) had talent…it was perfectly obvious" (Blotner 44). Stone not only became Faulkner’s close friend, but also a mentor to the young writer at the beginning of his career. Stone immediately gave the potential poet encouragement, advice, and models for his study of literature. For example, Stone would give practice drills in punctuation, as well as lecture Faulkner on goals and grammars. Meanwhile, Faulkner’s main interest in school became athletics such as football and baseball, thus his grades started to deteriorate: "Bill showed absolutely no interest in the education being offered…He gazed out the windows, and answered the simplest questions with ‘I don’t know’" (Blotner 39). Eventually, he would quit both athletics and school altogether. In 1919, his first literary work was acknowledged and published in The New Republic. The poem is a forty-line verse with a French title that acknowledges the influence of the French Symbolist, "L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune." In September, Faulkner would enroll in the University of Mississippi, and during his academic years it did not deter him from writing more poems. The Mississippian, the student paper, published "Landing in Luck" by Faulkner- the story is a nine-page short story created from his direct experience in the Royal Air Force flight training in 1916. He has also written several other poems such as "Cathay", which is published in the Oxford Eagle and "Sapphic", which is published in The Mississippian. During the summer, Faulkner became a house painter in Oxford, and in the beginni...
