[3] The story has become a classic of American literature, and has been frequently republished in high school anthologies and other collections.

His family even has a small coffin made in anticipation of his death, and presumably chooses the robust name 'William Armstrong' because it would look good on a gravestone.

Doodle eventually learns to crawl, even though the doctor says the strain of even sitting up might kill him because of his weak heart.

The boys' father identifies it as a scarlet ibis, a tropical bird that was blown off-course by a recent storm.

To his horror, he finds Doodle, lifeless, sitting on the ground with blood flowing out of his mouth, staining his throat and shirt a brilliant red.

[7] New York Times critic, David Allen, called the opera "a moving, intense and dignified creation.

He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia and studied chemical engineering at North Carolina State College.

However, following military service in World War II, he decided to be an opera singer and studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York[3] and in Italy.

[4] "The Scarlet Ibis" was his only literary work that gained widespread recognition, appearing in the July 1960 issue of The Atlantic Monthly and earning the 'Atlantic First' prize that year.