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| 11/10/1879 |
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The Birth of Vachel Lindsay
On this day in 1879, the troubadour-poet-performance artist Vachel Lindsay was born in Springfield, Illinois. Lindsay would die in the same house in which he was born -- aged 52, paranoid, suicide by drinking Lysol -- but in-between he had one of the most remarkable and celebrated careers in American literature. |
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Modern American Poetry
Find a biography, essays on Lindsay's poetry, performances, and racism, selected poems ("The Traveller Heart," "Aladdin and the Jinn," "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight," "A Curse for Kings," and "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven"), and commentary on "The Congo" and "The Gospel of Beauty."
"He was well received and praised by The Observer as 'easily the most important living American poet.' However, Lindsay's reputation began a precipitous decline with the publication of his utopian prose work, The Golden Book of Springfield. ... Although Lindsay continued to receive praise from English critics, American critics and readers dismissed him as tedious and incomprehensible. Opinion since has not changed." |  |
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The TinL masthead features photography by
Natasha D'Schommer
, and the book art featured is by Jim Rosenau.
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