A dozen or more years ago, I opened the Sunday NY Times Book Review, looked at a letter headed "Positively Fourth Rate" and started to laugh. It was written by

A dozen or more years ago, I opened the Sunday NY Times Book Review, looked at a letter headed "Positively Fourth Rate" and started to laugh. It was written by the composer Ned Rorem to take issue with some books on Dylan comparing his work with the greats of English poetry. You could look it up, at least if you have an NY Times subscription.