Collected Poems - Lindsay, Vachel

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Résumé :
Vachel Lindsay, in full Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, (born Nov. 10, 1879, Springfield, Ill., U.S.-died Dec. 5, 1931, Springfield), American poet who-in an attempt to revive poetry as an oral art form of the common people-wrote and read to audiences compositions with powerful rhythms that had an immediate appeal. After three years at Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio, Lindsay left in 1900 to study art in Chicago and New York City. He supported himself in part by lecturing for the YMCA and the Anti-Saloon League. Having begun to write poetry, he wandered for several summers throughout the country reciting his poems in return for food and shelter. He first received recognition in 1913, when Poetry magazine published his poem on William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. His poems of this kind are studded with vivid imagery and express both his ardent patriotism and his romantic appreciation of nature. Lindsay's poetry depicted with evocative clarity such leaders of American cults and causes as Alexander Campbell (a founder of the Disciples of Christ), Johnny Appleseed, John Peter Altgeld, and William Jennings Bryan. Lindsay recited his poetry in a highly rhythmic and syncopated manner that was accompanied by dramatic gestures in an attempt to achieve contact with his audience. Among the 20 or so poems that audiences demanded to hear-so often that Lindsay grew weary of reciting them-were General William Booth Enters into Heaven, The Congo, and The Santa Fe Trail. His best volumes of verse include Rhymes To Be Traded for Bread (1912), General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems (1913), The Congo and Other Poems (1914), and The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems (1917). Both Lindsay's poetic powers and his faculty of self-criticism steadily declined during the 1920s, and he lost his popularity. He committed suicide by drinking poison. (britannica.com)...

Sommaire:
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931) was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. While in New York in 1905 Lindsay turned to poetry in earnest. He tried to sell his poems on the streets. Self-printing his poems, he began to barter a pamphlet titled Rhymes To Be Traded For Bread, which he traded for food as a self-perceived modern version of a medieval troubadour. From March to May, 1906, Lindsay traveled roughly 600 miles on foot from Jacksonville, Florida, to Kentucky, again trading his poetry for food and lodging. From April to May, 1908, Lindsay undertook another poetry-selling trek, walking from New York City to Hiram, Ohio. From May to September 1912 he traveled-again on foot-from Illinois to New Mexico, trading his poems for food and lodging. During this last trek, Lindsay composed his most famous poem, The Congo. Going through Kansas, he was supposedly so successful that he had to send money home to keep his pockets empty. On his return, Harriet Monroe published in Poetry magazine first his poem General William Booth Enters into Heaven in 1913 and then The Congo in 1914. At this point, Lindsay became very well known. Additionally, W.E.B. Du Bois hailed Lindsay's story The Golden-Faced People for its insights into racism....