- Edwin Markham
Infobox Writer
name = Edwin Markham
imagesize = 180px
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birthdate =April 23 1852
birthplace =Oregon City, Oregon
deathdate =March 7 1940
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occupation = poet
nationality = American
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website = :"For other uses, seeE. A. Markham .Charles Edwin Anson Markham (
April 23 ,1852 -March 7 ,1940 ) was an American poet.Life
Edwin Markham was born in
Oregon City, Oregon and was the youngest of 6 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth. At the age of four, he moved toLagoon Valley , an area northeast of San Francisco; there, he lived with his sister and mother. He worked on the family’s farm beginning at twelve. He went by "Charles" until circa 1895, when he preferred "Edwin". He attended an early college inVacaville, California , where he studied his favorite realm of learning,literature . His mother, however, was opposed to his higher education (at the time, children rarely could afford to leave the farm). In Vacaville, Charles was able to earn enoughmoney to continue his education in Santa Rosa. Markham completed his classical courses in 1873.By 1898, Edwin married
Anna Catherine Murphy ; she was his third wife. They moved toNew York City in 1901, where they lived inBrooklyn and thenStaten Island . Edwin Markham had, by the time of hisdeath , amassed a huge personallibrary of 15 000+ volumes. This collection was bequeathed toWagner College 'sHorrmann Library , located on Staten Island. Markham also willed his personal papers to the library. Edwin's correspondents included Franklin D. Roosevelt,Ambrose Bierce ,Jack London ,Carl Sandburg andAmy Lowell .Five schools in California were named in honor of Edwin Markham, two elementary school in
Vacaville, California , named Edwin Markham Elementary School, and inHayward, California , namedEdwin Markham Elementary School , two middle schools inPlacerville and San Jose, California , named Edwin Markham Middle School (although the San Jose school has since been renamed Willow Glen Middle School), and Markham Middle School in South Central Los Angeles.Schools in other states name in his honor include Edwin Markham Intermediate School 51 in Staten Island, Edwin Markham Elementary in Pasco, Washington, and Edwin Markham Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Career
Markham taught literature in El Dorado County until 1879, when he became education superintendent of the
county . While residing in El Dorado County, Markham became a member of PlacervilleMasonic Lodge . Charles also accepted a job as principal ofTompkins Observation School inOakland, California in 1890. While in Oakland, he became well acquainted with many other famous contemporarywriter s and poets, such asJoaquin Miller ,Ina Coolbrith ,Charles Warren Stoddard , andEdmund Clarence Stedman .Edwin's most famous poem was first presented at a public poetry reading in 1898. He read "The Man With the Hoe," which accented
laborer s' hardships. His main inspiration was a French painting of the same name (in French, "L'homme à la houe") byJean-François Millet . Markham's poem was published, and it became quite popular very soon. In New York, he gave many lectures to labor groups. These happened as often as his poetry readings.As recounted by literary biographer William R. Nash, [ [http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/markham/life.htm Edwin Markham's Life and Career-A Concise Overview ] ] "' ['b] etween publications, Markham lectured and wrote in other genres, including essays and nonfiction prose. He also gave much of his time to organizations such as the Poetry Society of America, which he established in 1910. Throughout Markham's later life, many readers viewed him as an important voice in American poetry, a position signified by honors such as his election in 1908 to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Despite his numerous accolades, however, none of his later books achieved the success of the first two.
Legacy
"The change in Markham’s literary significance has been tied to the development of modernist poetry and his steadfast refusal to change to meet the increasing demands arising with the appearance of poets such as Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and William Carlos Williams. Their emphasis on changes in literary forms and their movement away from social commentary and political topics made much of what distinguished Markham's verse dated. He gradually fell from critical favor, and his reputation never fully recovered.
"Nevertheless, despite the critics' increasing disenchantment with him, Markham remained an important public figure, traveling across the nation and receiving warm praise nearly everywhere he went. At his home on Staten Island, his birthday was a local school holiday, and children marked the event by covering his lawn with flowers. The crowning glory came on Markham’s eightieth birthday, when a number of prominent citizens, including President Herbert Hoover, honored his accomplishments at a party in Carnegie Hall and named him one of the most important artists of his age. In 1936 Markham suffered a debilitating stroke from which he never fully recovered; he died at his home on Staten Island, New York.
"In his day Markham managed to fuse art and social commentary in a manner that guaranteed him a place among the most famous artists of the late nineteenth century. His reputation has faded because of the somewhat dated nature of his verse; nevertheless, he remains a notable figure for his contributions to American poetry. His work stands as an example of what American critics and readers valued near the turn of the century. His poetry offers insight into an important phase in the development of American letters."
Bibliography
Poetry
*"
The Man With the Hoe and Other Poems" - (1899)
*"Lincoln and Other Poems" - (1901)
*"Gates of Paradise" - (1920)
*"Eighty Poems at Eighty" - (1932)
*"The Ballad of the Gallows Bird" - (published 1960)Prose
*"Children in Bondage" (1914)
*"California the Wonderful"(1914)References
External links
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/689 A short biography of Edwin Markham]
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