Vachel Lindsay
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (November 10, 1879 – December 5, 1931) was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. His extensive correspondence with the poet Yeats details his intentions to revive the musical qualities in poetry as had been practiced by the ancient Greeks.
Because of his identity as a performance artist and his use of American Midwest themes, Lindsay became known in the 1910s as the "Prairie Troubador." For the final twenty years of his life, Lindsay was one of the best-known poets in the US. His reputation was high enough to enable him to befriend, encourage, and mentor other poets, such as Langston Hughes and Sara Teasdale. However, his poetry lacked elements that encouraged the attention of academic scholarship, and after his death he became an obscure figure.
Read more about Vachel Lindsay: Early Years, Beginnings As A Poet, Poetry As Performance, Attitudes Towards Race, Selected Works
Famous quotes by vachel lindsay:
“A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,
A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl
Make him the quaint great figure that men love,
The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“here at midnight, in our little town
A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,
Near the old court-house pacing up and down,”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, Boom,’
A roaring, epic, ragtime tune
From the mouth of the Congo
To the Mountains of the Moon.”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“Factory windows are always broken.
Somebody’s always throwing bricks,
Somebody’s always heaving cinders,
Playing ugly Yahoo tricks.”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“‘Be careful what you do,
Or Mumbo-Jumbo, god of the Congo,
And all of the other
Gods of the Congo,
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you,”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)