- James Whitcomb Riley
Infobox Writer
name = James Whitcomb Riley
imagesize = 200px
caption = James Whitcomb Riley, c. 1913
birthdate = birth date|1849|10|7
birthplace = Greenfield,Indiana ,
United States
deathdate = death date and age|1916|7|22|1849|10|7
deathplace =Indianapolis, Indiana ,United States
occupation =Poet James Whitcomb Riley (Greenfield,
Indiana ,October 7 ,1849 –July 22 ,1916 ) was an Americanwriter andpoet . Known as the "Hoosier Poet", "National Poet" [http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/riley/exhibit.htm] and the "Children's Poet," [http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/riley/docs/3_bday.html] he started his career in 1875 writing newspaper verse in Indiana dialect for the "Indianapolis Journal". His verse tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one-thousand poems that Riley published, over half are in dialect. Claiming that “simple sentiments that come direct from the heart” [Riley, 14] were the secret of his success, Riley satisfied the public with down-to-earth verse that was "heart high." [ Riley, 15] Although Riley was a bestselling author in the early 1900s and earned a steady income from royalties, he also traveled and gave public readings of his poetry. His favorite authors wereRobert Burns andCharles Dickens , and Riley himself befriended bestselling Indiana authors such asBooth Tarkington ,George Ade andMeredith Nicholson . Many of his works were illustrated by the popular illustratorHoward Chandler Christy .Life
James Whitcomb Riley was born on
October 7 ,1849 , inGreenfield, Indiana , to local attorney Reuben A. Riley and his wife, Elizabeth (Marine) Riley, in a small cabin. His parents named him afterJames Whitcomb , the governor of Indiana. James Whitcomb Riley was their third child. On the same property he would live his childhood up to age 21. Riley would be influenced by many of the visitors to his father's domicile. In particular, he was able to pick up thecadence and character of thedialect of central Indiana and the travelers along the oldNational Road , which came through in the many poems he would go on to write. One particular visitor was Mary Alice Smith, who would eventually stay to live with the Rileys. Mary Alice ("Allie") Smith would be the influence to Riley's poem, "Little Orphant Annie ", which was originally to be called "Little Orphant Allie" but atypesetter 's error changed the name of the poem.Bodenhamer, 1195]Riley was never a great student. Before he dropped out of school at age sixteen, a former teacher encouraged him to appreciate nature. He attempted to study
law in his father Reuben's office. However, he found that the law was not for him, whereupon he took several different jobs in rapid succession.Riley had his first published poem in 1870, at age twenty-one. He would begin to start writing for severalnewspaper s, eventually landing inIndianapolis, Indiana working for the "Indianapolis Journal", writing miscellaneous articles, versifying whenever possible.Riley's big break came with the private publishing of a thousand copies of "The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems" in 1883 under the
pseudonym of "Benjamin F. Johnson, of Boone". The book rapidly sold all of the first printing, causing Indianapolis book publisher Merrill, Meigs and Company to quickly contract with Riley to publish the second edition of "The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems". Riley would continue to work with the publishing company as it eventually became Bowen-Merrill and finallyBobbs-Merrill . The 1886 publishing of "The Boss Girl" began a regular publishing of new Riley literature. This also led him to begin to regularly tour the United States givinglecture s, starting in the mid-1880s.In 1893 he was invited to live at the residence of Charles and Magdalena Holstein within the Indianapolis neighborhood of Lockerbie. He would call this his permanent residence for the last twenty-three years of his life, although he would eventually purchase his childhood home, and allow his brother, John Riley, to live within.
Riley would remain in demand throughout his life, including the
White House . He was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters . In 1912 theNational Institute of Arts and Letters gave him the gold medal of poetry, the first poet so honored. He also received several honorary degrees.Riley loved children, but he never had any of his own; he also never married. Evidence points that he regretted his bachelorhood and childlessness. Many believe that his poems about and for children were written due to this regret. Others attribute his poems to his regrets over
alcoholism and his possible affliction withsyphilis .Bodenhamer, 1196]Indiana honored Riley after his death in 1916 by burying him in
Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. The site of his grave is atop Strawberry Hill, the highest point in Indianapolis, offering a spectacular view of the city. Although Riley's poetry has fallen out of popularity, a few of his poems, such as "Little Orphant Annie" and "Lockerbie Street", continue to be taught in schools in Indiana.Legacy
In 1916 a group of prominent citizens from Indianapolis organized the Riley Memorial Association (now the [http://www.rileykids.org Riley Children's Foundation] ) to build a children's hospital in memory of the Hoosier Poet. The
James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children opened in 1924.The foundation also purchased the poet's domicile in his later years in downtown Indianapolis; it is maintained as a museum and today, the
James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home is the only late-Victorian home in Indiana that is open to the public, and the country's only late-Victorian preservation, featuring authentic furniture and decor from that era. His birthplace and boyhood home, now theJames Whitcomb Riley House , is in nearbyGreenfield, Indiana .In 1950, the foundation organized [http://www.rileykids.org/Camp Camp Riley] a
summer camp in south centralIndiana for children with disabilities. Also in 1924,James Whitcomb Riley High School opened in South Bend,Indiana . In 1950, there was a James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School inHammond, Indiana , but it was torn down in 2006. (Its student body merged withWoodrow Wilson Elementary School to formFrank O'Bannon Elementary School.) During its heyday,East Chicago, Indiana had a Riley School at one time, as did neighboring Gary, Indiana.In 1968, a young reporter at The Greenfield Daily Reporter, named Dick Baumbach, took of picture of a large sign at the Old Swimming Hole closing it because of pollution. The photograph was published nationally and subsequently Sports Illustrated carried a very negative article that the people of Greenfield let Riley down by not caring for the Old Swimming Hole.
In 1999, the
Indiana University Press published the book "James Whitcomb Riley: A Life" authored by historian Elizabeth J. Van Allen.As a lasting tribute, the citizens of Greenfield hold a festival every year in Riley's honor. Taking place the first weekend of October, the Riley Festival traditionally commences with a flower parade in which local elementary school children place flowers around the statue of Riley on the county courthouse lawn, while the Greenfield-Central High School band plays lively music in honor of the poet. The larger Riley parade is on that Saturday and is a fall attraction. The Greenfield-Central High School band also holds their annual Riley Marching Festival on that same day.
A
Liberty ship , commissionedApril 23 1942 , was christened the "SS James Whitcomb Riley". It served with theUnited States Maritime Commission until scrapped in 1971.Gallery
Notes
References
* Elizabeth J. Van Allen, "James Whitcomb Riley: A Life," 1999
* Bodenhamer, David J., Robert G. Barrows, and David Gordon Vanderstel. "The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis." Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994. [http://books.google.com/books?id=bg13QcMSsq8C&dq=The+Encyclopedia+of+Indianapolis&pg=PP1&ots=afORHeMVlr&sig=1iT-4NraR15pE8hxe4BazHHFpxg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA1195,M1 googlebooks] Retrieved September 1, 2008
* [http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/riley/exhibit.htm Lilly Library] Accessed September 1, 2008
*Riley, James Whitcomb. "The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley" New York: Collier, 1916. [http://books.google.com/books?id=sYLcRR23wLkC&pg=PA15&dq=heart+high+riley&as_brr=1&ei=_kjDSNWwDpKQzQTyyqGKDg googlebooks] Retrieved September 6, 2008External links
* [http://www.rileykids.org/museum/ James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home] - where Riley lived for most of his adult life, on a cobblestone street in the [http://www.lockerbiesquare.org/ Lockerbie] neighborhood near downtown
Indianapolis
* [http://www.iub.edu/~liblilly/overview/riley.shtml/ Guide to the Riley Collections at the Lilly Library] - Indiana University, Bloomington.
* [http://www.rileykids.org Riley Children's Foundation] - supporting [http://www.rileyhospitalforchildren.org/ Riley Hospital for Children] , [http://www.rileykids.org/camp/ Camp Riley] for Youth with Physical Disabilities and the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home
* [http://www.rileyhospitalforchildren.org/ Riley Hospital for Children] - Indiana's only comprehensive children's hospital
* [http://www.rileyhighschool.com/ James Whitcomb Riley High School]
* [http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/JWRiley/ Livin' the Life of Riley: The James Whitcomb Riley Digital Collection]
* [http://reverent.org/poe-tical_or_not.html Riley, or Poe?] - A quiz to tell the difference between their poems
* [http://www.bartleby.com/227/0316.html "Cambridge History of English and American Literature" vol. 17] : Later National poets
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* [http://www.oldfashionedamericanhumor.com/james-whitcomb-riley-songs-o-cheer.html "Songs O' Cheer"] –collection of humorous poems (with art) from the book published in 1883.
* [http://www.imcpl.org/resources/digitallibrary/jameswhitcombriley.html James Whitcomb Riley Recordings] - 17 recordings from 1912 of James Whitcomb Riley reading his poems
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