While Homans was at Harvard College, "perhaps the most direct influence on George as an undergraduate was his English tutor Bernard ("Benny") de Voto". "George ... was attracted to de Voto's stories about the plains and the prairies, but more, to the actuality of the lives of people and the American character as expressed in midwestern writing. In many ways, too, George adopted the mannerisms of de Voto, the outwardly boisterous tones (but not for either the boosterist mentality) and the scorn of intellectualist rhetoric" that is seen in his book of poetry "The Witch Hazel" (1988).