1953Charles Olson published The Maximus Poems / 1-10.People and Communities, Arts and Culture, Literary History, Notable People

The initial inspiration for The Maximus Poems can be traced to June 1947, when Olson dined with Cape Ann Historical Society President Alfred Mansfield Brooks. In May 1950, Olson wrote the first poem “I, Maximus of Gloucester, to You” as a letter to Vincent Ferrini. The series was written over almost twenty years and contains over 300 poems. He continued to work on them until he died in 1970.

Maximus represented Olson’s alter ego about Gloucester, or small-town American life that he sought to preserve.