Seven Men [Excerpts]

"Seven Men" by Max Beerbohm is a book of short stories about artists and their struggles to find meaning and acceptance. The first story, "Enoch Soames," follows a poet who dreams of being famous, but his work is never appreciated; the story is told by a narrator who knew the man, and recounts the poet's sad journey. The narrator remembers Soames as a clumsy and strange person whose main goal was to be noticed. Although he kept trying and kept publishing, nobody seemed to care, and he remained unknown while others became successful. He just wanted to know if he would ever be remembered, and the tragedy is that he goes to extreme lengths to find out what his future holds.