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| November 10, 1879 |
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| Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931) |
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The Birth of Vachel Lindsay
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| by Steve King |
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On this day in 1879, the troubadour-poet 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 was one of the most remarkable, celebrated, and now forgotten literary careers. He believed that his father's ancestors went west with Daniel Boone, that his mother was related to Pocahontas, that his bedroom had been slept in by Abraham Lincoln, and that he had been called to help redeem mankind through poetry. He began this mission by tramping the country, selling his poems on the street for a living and filling his notebooks with the Americana which would result in 9 books of poetry, most famously "The Proud Farmer," "The Building of Springfield," "The Santa Fe Trail," "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight," "Ghosts of the Buffaloes," and "General William Booth Enters into Heaven ... FULL STORY »
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— SK |
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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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