The Little Book of Modern Verse Part 36

Ledoux, Louis V. [1880-1948] (1) Born at New York City, June 6, 1880. Educated at Columbia University, where he graduated in 1902. He is the author of "Songs from the Silent Land", 1905; "The Soul's Progress", 1907; "Yzdra: A Poetic Drama", 1909; "The Shadow of Etna", 1914; "The Story of Eleusis: A Lyrical Drama", 1916.

Le Gallienne, Richard. [1866-1947] (4) Born at Liverpool, England, January 20, 1866. He was already a well-known poet, novelist, and critic when he took up his residence in the United States. In each of these fields Mr. Le Gallienne has achieved conspicuous success and it would be difficult to say what phase of his literary work should take precedence of the others.

Among the best known of his prose works are: "The Quest of the Golden Girl", "Book Bills of Narcissus", "An Old Country House", "Little Dinners with the Sphinx", etc. In criticism he has done particularly fine work in his study of George Meredith and in his volume, "Att.i.tudes and Avowals".

In poetry, with which we are chiefly concerned, he has given us several volumes distinguished by that delicacy and sensitive feeling for beauty which characterize all of his work. These are: "English Poems", 1892; "Stevenson, and Other Poems", 1895; "New Poems", 1909; "The Lonely Dancer", 1913. In addition to these volumes, Mr. Le Gallienne has made an admirable paraphrase of the "Rubaiyat"

of Omar Khayyam and of a group of odes from the "Divan" of Hafiz.

Lindsay, Vachel. [1879-1931] (3) Born November 10, 1879. Educated at Hiram College, Ohio.

He took up the study of art and studied at the Art Inst.i.tute, Chicago, 1900-03 and at the New York School of Art, 1904-05.

For a time after his technical study, he lectured upon art in its practical relation to the community, and returning to his home in Springfield, Illinois, issued what one might term his manifesto in the shape of "The Village Magazine", divided about equally between prose articles, pertaining to beautifying his native city, and poems, ill.u.s.trated by his own drawings. Soon after this, Mr. Lindsay, taking as scrip for the journey, "Rhymes to be Traded for Bread", made a pilgrimage on foot through several Western States going as far afield as New Mexico. The story of this journey is given in his volume, "Adventures while Preaching the Gospel of Beauty". Mr. Lindsay first attracted attention in poetry by "General William Booth Enters into Heaven", a poem which became the t.i.tle of his first volume, in 1913. His second volume was "The Congo", published in 1914. He is attempting to restore to poetry its early appeal as a spoken art, and his later work differs greatly from the selections contained in this anthology.

Lodge, George Cabot. [1873-1909] (2) Born at Boston, October 12, 1873. Educated at Harvard University and the University of Paris. He did his first work in poetry at Harvard in the stimulating companions.h.i.+p of a little group of poets including Trumbull Stickney, William Vaughn Moody, and Philip Henry Savage, all of whom, by a strange fatality, died within a few years after leaving the University. Mr. Lodge was a poet whose gift followed cla.s.sical lines, but was none the less individual and sincere. His complete work in lyric and dramatic poetry has been gathered into two volumes: "Poems and Dramas", 1911. He died at Boston in 1909.

Lowell, Amy. [1874-1925] (1) Born at Boston, February 9, 1874. Educated at private schools.

She has been prominently identified with the "Imagist" movement in poetry and with the technical use of 'vers libre'. These movements, however, were not yet influencing poetry when "The Little Book of Modern Verse"

was edited, and Miss Lowell is, therefore, represented by a lyric in her earlier and less characteristic manner. Her volumes in their order are: "A Dome of Many-Coloured Gla.s.s", 1912; "Sword Blades and Poppy Seed", 1914; "Men, Women, and Ghosts", 1916.

Miss Lowell is also the editor of "Some Imagist Poets", 1915; "Some Imagist Poets", 1916; and "Some Imagist Poets", 1917, all of which contain a group of her own poems.

MacKaye, Percy. [1875-1956] (2) Born at New York City, March 16, 1875. Educated at Harvard University and the University of Leipzig. He has written many poetic dramas and several volumes of lyric verse. Among the best known of his dramas are: "The Canterbury Pilgrims", 1903; "Fenris, the Wolf", 1905; "Jeanne d'Arc", 1906; "Sappho and Phaon", 1907; and "Caliban: A Masque", 1916. He is also the author of several prose dramas which have been successfully produced.

In non-dramatic poetry his most representative volumes are: "Poems", 1909; "Uriel, and Other Poems", 1912; "The Sistine Eve, and Other Poems", "The Present Hour", 1915.

Markham, Edwin. [1852-1940] (4) Born at Oregon City, Oregon, April 23, 1852. Removed at an early age to California, where his childhood was spent upon a ranch in herding sheep and riding the ranges after the cattle.

Later, when the cattle ranges turned into farms, he worked in the fields and in autumn joined the threshers on their route from farm to farm.

During his boyhood he attended school but three months in the year, but later studied at San Jose Normal School and the University of California.

His first books were earned, when a lad on the ranch, by ploughing a twenty-acre lot at a dollar an acre and investing the entire sum in the works of the great poets. Thereafter, when he rode the ranges, he balanced his saddle bags with Keats and Sh.e.l.ley. It was, indeed, largely due to the democracy of Sh.e.l.ley, coupled with his own early experiences, that his genius took the social bent which distinguishes it. After leaving the University, Mr. Markham became a teacher in California and was princ.i.p.al and superintendent of several schools until 1899, when he sprang suddenly into fame by the publication in the "San Francisco Examiner" of his poem "The Man With the Hoe". This poem, crystallizing as it did the spirit of the time, and emphasizing one's obligation to Society, became the impulse of the whole social movement in poetry, a movement which largely prevailed during the early years of the twentieth century.

After the great success of "The Man With the Hoe", Mr. Markham removed from California to New York City, where he has since been engaged in literary work. His volumes of poetry in their order are: "The Man With the Hoe, and Other Poems", 1899; "Lincoln, and Other Poems", 1901; "The Shoes of Happiness", 1915.

Mifflin, Lloyd. [1846-1921] (2) Born at Columbia, Pennsylvania, September 15, 1846. He was educated at Was.h.i.+ngton Cla.s.sical Inst.i.tute and studied art abroad.

His chief work in poetry has been in the sonnet form, of which he has exceptional mastery. His volumes are: "The Hills", 1896; "At the Gates of Song", 1897; "The Slopes of Helicon", 1898; "The Fields of Dawn and Later Sonnets", 1900; "Castilian Days", 1903; "Collected Sonnets", 1905; "My Lady of Dream", 1906; and "Toward the Uplands", 1908.

Millay, Edna St. Vincent. [1892-1950] (1) Born at Camden, Maine. Educated at Va.s.sar College. Before entering college, however, when she was but nineteen years of age, she wrote the poem "Renascence", which was entered in the prize contest of "The Lyric Year".

The poem shows remarkable imagination and a poetic gift of a high order.

Miss Millay has not yet issued a volume of verse.

Moody, William Vaughn. [1869-1910] (3) Born at Spencer, Indiana, July 8, 1869. Educated at Riverside Academy, New York, and at Harvard. In 1895 he became a.s.sistant Professor of English in the University of Chicago, where he remained until 1903.

His period of teaching, however, was relieved by several trips abroad, on one of which he visited Greece and re-read the entire body of Greek tragedy with the background of the scenes which produced it. The Greek influence, dominant in his work, reaches its finest expression in "The Fire-Bringer", a poetic drama of great beauty and philosophical depth.

This drama is one of a trilogy of which it is the first member, the second being "The Masque of Judgment", and the third, "The Death of Eve".

The last was in process of writing at Mr. Moody's death and only fragments of it have been published. This trilogy, profound in its spiritual meaning and artistic in execution, would alone be sufficient to place Moody among the major poets had he not left us a body of lyric poetry of equal distinction.

Moody first attracted wide attention by "An Ode in Time of Hesitation", written in relation to the annexation of the Philippine Islands by the United States. In addition to this he has left us several poems notable for their social vision, particularly "Gloucester Moors".

In the songs of "The Fire-Bringer", however, we have his truest lyric offering, and in "The Daguerreotype", that poignant and beautiful poem to his mother. Moody died at Colorado Springs on October 17, 1910.

His work has been collected into two volumes, "The Poems and Plays of William Vaughn Moody", 1912.

Neihardt, John G. [1881-1973] (2) Born at Sharpsburg, Illinois, January 8, 1881. Removed in his early boyhood to Bancroft, Nebraska, his present home. He has made a special study of the pioneer life of the West and has also lived for a time among the Omaha Indians to study them. His work has virility and imagination and reflects the life which inspired it. His books of verse are: "A Bundle of Myrrh", 1908; "Man-Song", 1909; "The Stranger at the Gate", 1912; "The Song of Hugh Gla.s.s", 1915; and "The Quest", 1916.

Norton, Grace Fallow. [1876-?] (1) Born at Northfield, Minnesota, October 29, 1876. She is the author of "The Little Gray Songs from St. Joseph's", 1912; "The Sister of the Wind", 1914; "Roads", 1915; "What is Your Legion?", 1916.

O'Hara, John Myers. [1870-1944] (2) Author of "Songs of the Open", 1909; "The Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English", 1910; "Pagan Sonnets", 1910; "The Ebon Muse", 1914; "Manhattan", 1915. Mr. O'Hara's rendition of "Sappho"

is one of the finest in English literature.

O Sheel, Shaemas. [1886-1954] (2)

His volumes are: "The Blossomy Bough", 1911, and "The Light Feet of Goats", 1915.

Peabody, Josephine Preston (Mrs. Lionel Marks). [1874-1922] (3) Born at New York City. Educated at the Girls' Latin School of Boston and at Radcliffe College. She was instructor of English at Wellesley College from 1901 to 1903. Her volumes of lyric and dramatic poetry in their order are: "The Wayfarers", 1898; "Fortune and Men's Eyes", 1900; "Marlowe: A Drama", 1901; "The Singing Leaves", 1903; "The Wings", 1905; "The Piper", a drama, awarded the Stratford-on-Avon Prize, 1910; "The Singing Man", 1911; "The Wolf of Gubbio: A Drama", 1913; "The Harvest Moon", 1916. Miss Peabody, as her volumes show, is a poet of varied gifts and her work is always distinguished by charm of personality and by insight.

Reese, Lizette Woodworth. [1856-1935] (4) Born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 9, 1856. Educated in the schools of that city. She has been for many years a teacher of English in West High School of Baltimore. Her volumes of verse are: "A Branch of May", 1887; "A Handful of Lavender", 1891; "A Quiet Road", 1896; "A Wayside Lute", 1909. Miss Reese has a lyric gift unique in its strict Saxon simplicity. Her work has an early, Old-World flavor, a quaintness, a magic of phrase that renders it wholly individual.

Rice, Cale Young. [1872-1943] (3) Born at Dixon, Kentucky, December 7, 1872. Graduated from c.u.mberland University in 1893, and from Harvard University in 1895, where he remained to take the degree of A.M. in 1896.

He is the author of many fine poetic dramas, some of which have had successful stage presentation, and of several volumes of lyric poetry.

In poetic drama his best-known volumes are: "Charles di Tocca", 1903; "David", 1904; "Yolanda of Cyprus", 1906; "A Night in Avignon", 1907; "The Immortal Lure", 1911; "Porzia", 1913. In lyric poetry he has published the following collections: "From Dusk to Dusk", 1898; "Song Surf", 1900; "Nirvana Days", 1908; "Many G.o.ds", 1910; "Far Quests", 1912; "At the World's Heart", 1914; "Earth and New Earth", 1916; "Trails Sunward", 1917. With the exception of the last two books, Mr. Rice's plays and poems were collected into two volumes in 1915.

Riley, James Whitcomb. [1853-1916] (2) Born in Greenfield, Indiana, in June, 1853, and died at Indianapolis, July, 1916. He occupied a field unique in American literature and probably no poet came as near to the heart of the people.

Popularly known as "The Hoosier Poet", because his verse was largely written in the dialect of the common people of his native State of Indiana, he was yet a poet of the truest gifts, and many of his dialect poems bid fair to become cla.s.sic. Mr. Riley did not confine himself, however, to the use of dialect, but wrote some exquisite poetry in other fields.

Unlike many poets, he lived to see himself not only the most beloved and honored citizen of his native State, which annually celebrates "Riley Day", but the most widely known and beloved poet of his period in America. Mr. Riley was so voluminous a writer that we have scarcely s.p.a.ce to list all of his t.i.tles, but among the favorite volumes are: "The Old Swimmin' Hole, and 'Leven More Poems", 1883; "Afterwhiles", 1887; "Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury", 1888; "Rhymes of Childhood", 1890; "Green Fields and Running Brooks", 1892; "Armazindy", 1894; "Love Lyrics", 1899; "Home Folks", 1900; "Farm Rhymes", 1901; "An Old Sweetheart of Mine", 1902; "Out to Old Aunt Mary's", 1904; "Raggedy Man", 1907; "The Little Orphant Annie Book", 1908; "When the Frost is on the Punkin, and Other Poems", 1911; "Knee Deep in June, and Other Poems", 1912; and the Biographical Edition of the complete works, 1913.

Roberts, Charles G. D. [1860-1943] (2) Born in Douglas, New Brunswick, January 10, 1860. Educated at the University of New Brunswick. After a period of teaching, he turned to journalism and was editor for a time of "The Week", Toronto, and a.s.sociate editor of "The Ill.u.s.trated American". Mr. Roberts has been a voluminous writer as novelist, naturalist, and poet.

His volumes of verse are: "Orion, and Other Poems", 1880; "In Divers Tones", 1887; "Songs of the Common Day", 1893; "The Book of the Native", 1896; "New York Nocturnes", 1898; "Poems", 1901; "The Book of the Rose", 1903; Collected Poems, 1907.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. [1869-1935] (3) Born at Head Tide, Maine, December 22, 1869. Educated at Harvard University.

He is the author of "Children of the Night", 1897; "Captain Craig", 1902; "The Town Down the River", 1910; "The Man against the Sky", 1916; "Merlin", 1917; and of two prose dramas, "Van Zorn" and "The Porcupine".

Mr. Robinson is a psychological poet of great subtlety.

His poems are usually studies of types and he has given us a remarkable series of portraits.

Rogers, Robert Cameron. [1862-1912] (1) Born at Buffalo, New York, January 7, 1862. Died at Santa Barbara, California, while still a young man [sic]. He was chiefly known for his poem, "The Rosary", contained in this collection.

Rosenfeld, Morris. [1862-1923] (1) A Yiddish poet who came to America in his early youth.

He has been connected editorially with the Jewish "Forward" and other papers.

He is chiefly known for his "Songs of the Ghetto".

Santayana, George E. [1863-1952] (3) Born in Madrid, Spain, December 16, 1863. He was for several years Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University, and has written important works in this field, particularly "The Sense of Beauty", 1896, and "Interpretations of Poetry and Religion", 1900. His work in poetry has been largely in the sonnet form, of which he has a cla.s.sic mastery.

His volumes of verse are: "Sonnets, and Other Poems", 1894; "Lucifer", 1899; "The Hermit of Carmel", 1901; "Collected Sonnets", 1910.

Schauffler, Robert Haven. [1879-1964] (1) Born at Brun, Austria, though of American parentage, on April 8, 1879.

He studied at Northwestern University, but took his degree of B.A.

from Princeton in 1902, and afterwards spent a year in study at the University of Berlin. Mr. Schauffler was a musician before he took up literature and was a pupil of many famous masters of the 'cello.

He has written upon musical subjects, notably in his volume, "The Musical Amateur". He has also written several books of travel, such as "Romantic Germany" and "Romantic America". He attracted wide attention by his poem upon immigration, "The Sc.u.m o' the Earth", which is the t.i.tle poem of his volume of verse, 1912.

Scollard, Clinton. [1860-1932] (3) Born at Clinton, New York, September 18, 1860. Graduated at Hamilton College in 1881. He afterwards studied at Harvard University and at Cambridge, England. He was Professor of English Literature at Hamilton College, 1888-96. Mr. Scollard has been a voluminous writer, and we must content ourselves with listing his more important books.

His first volume was "Pictures in Song", 1884, followed by: "With Reed and Lyre", 1888; "Old and New World Lyrics", 1888; "Songs of Sunrise Lands", 1892; "The Hills of Song", 1895; "The Lutes of Morn", 1901; "Lyrics of the Dawn", 1902; "The Lyric Bough", 1904; "Chords of the Zither", 1910; "Sprays of Shamrock", 1914; "Poems", a selection from his complete work, 1914; "Italy in Arms", 1915; "The Vale of Shadows", 1915; "Ballads, Patriotic and Romantic", 1916.

Sherman, Frank Dempster. [1860-1916] (3) Born at Peekskill, New York, May 6, 1860. Died September 19, 1916.

He took the degree of Ph.B. from Columbia University in 1884, and was Professor of Graphics in Columbia School of Architecture from 1904 until his death. He was the author of "Madrigals and Catches", 1887; "Lyrics for a Lute", 1890; "Little Folk Lyrics", 1892; "Lyrics of Joy", 1904; and "A Southern Flight" (with Clinton Scollard), 1906.

Sterling, George. [1869-1926] (3) Born at Sag Harbor, New York, December 1, 1869. Educated at private schools and at St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Maryland.

He is the author of "The Testimony of the Suns", 1903; "A Wine of Wizardry", 1908; "The House of Orchids", 1911; "Beyond the Breakers", 1914; "Exposition Ode", 1915; and "Yosemite", 1915.

Mr. Sterling is a writer to whom the sublimer aspects of nature appeal and he has a style admirably suited to their portrayal.

Stickney, Joseph Trumbull. [1874-1904] (3) Born at Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 1874. After a youth spent for the most part in Italy and Switzerland, although his family maintained a house in New York, Stickney entered Harvard University in 1891.

Graduating with high cla.s.sical honors in 1895, he returned to Europe to study for the degree Doctorat es Lettres. This was conferred upon him by the University of Paris in 1903, in exchange for his two theses, "Les Sentences dans la Poesie Grecque d'Homere a Euripide"

and "De Hermolai Barbari vita atque ingenio dissertationem." This degree, the highest in the gift of the University, was never before bestowed upon an American. Stickney's volume of poems, "Dramatic Verses", had been published in 1902. Leaving Paris in April, 1903, Stickney spent a few months in Greece and then returned to America to become instructor in Greek at Harvard. He died in Boston, October 11, 1904.

His "Poems" were collected and edited in 1905 by his friends, George Cabot Lodge, William Vaughn Moody, and John Ellerton Lodge.