[5] In 1951, Gardner started as an associate editor at Poetry, working under the poet Karl Shapiro.
[2] In this role, Gardner was responsible for reviewing submissions for publication, passing them up to Shapiro for final selection.
[8] In 1954, Gardner became a sponsor the poet Gregory Corso and briefly provided him with financial support.
Unlike Corso, Tate was described as "viscerally anti-Beat" by Marian Janssen in her biography of Isabella Gardner.
[8] In 1980, she published her final book, That Was Then: New and Selected Poems, which was described as offering "a lifetime of experience--whole but maturing".
[1] Janssen described Gardner's poetry as traditional, saying she was a "master of poetic forms from villanelle to triolet".