Well, Wilbur's influence on my work goes back to high school, when I found his translation of Moliere's "The Learned Ladies" on the bargain table at Waldenbooks. I bought it, read it, and loved it. That, along with Chaucer (I'd also bought the Wife of Bath and Miller's Tale coloring books) inspired me to write narrative verse plays, which got me to the finals of the California State Speech Competitions three years running in the Original Prose and Poetry category.
From the prologue of one:
...a snobbish headmistress with her hair in a bun,
seventeen little girls, and a gunslinging nun...
Before us now the scene unfurls:
St. Augustina's School for Girls,
a building of brick, with stories four.
A nun is standing at the door.
There was much more, of course. Mass combat, dragon attacks, schoolgirls with grenades, that sort of thing, all performed as a one-man show.
I'm working as a fantasy novelist now, so please thank him for me.
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