Lindsay, [Nicholas] Vachel (1879–1931), born in Springfield, Ill., attended Hiram College (1897–1900), studied art at Chicago and New York (1900–1905), and decided, after unsuccessful attempts to find employment, to be “a tramp and a beggar.” Although he spent his winters in lecturing on art and temperance, much of the time during the following years was devoted to tramping tours of the U.S., on which he bartered verses for food and lodging. His poetic broadsides and leaflets include
The Tree of Laughing Bells (1905) and
Rhymes To Be Traded for Bread (1912). In 1912 he began to lecture on
The Gospel of Beauty and in 1913 he published his first collection,
General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems, whose title piece⧫ displays the qualities of vivid imagery, vigorous rhythm, and dramatic conception for which Lindsay is best known. The volume also contains such conventional but equally sincere poems as “
The Eagle That Is Forgotten.” With the publication of
The Congo and Other Poems (1914), he was widely recognized as an exponent of the “new poetry,” and came to be in great demand as a public reader of his own works. Still preaching the gospel of beauty, he tried to stimulate a popular taste for poetry through a method that he called “the higher vaudeville,” in which his recitations were marked by a dramatic use of gesture and chant, emphasizing his strong rhythms and syncopation. This second volume includes “
Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight,” “
The Congo,” and “
The Santa‐Fé Trail,” all characteristically vivid, imaginative “visions,” in which the poet embodies his romantic faith in nature and a life close to the soil, and his fervent patriotism and love for democracy.
The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems (1917) marked the peak of his artistic achievement, its title poem⧫ and “
The Ghost of the Buffaloes” having a subtle beauty of melody and image that he never surpassed, although “
In Praise of Johnny Appleseed,” commemorating the deeds of his favorite pioneer hero, is one of his most significant pieces. Losing the faculty of self‐criticism, he became more prolific but quickly declined in power, and his later poetry is of comparatively little value. Among his later collections are
The Daniel Jazz (1920),
The Golden Whales of California (1920),
Collected Poems (1923, revised 1925),
The Candle in the Cabin (1926), and
Johnny Appleseed (1928). His prose works include
Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (1914);
A Handy Guide for Beggars (1916);
The Golden Book of Springfield (1920), a mystic Utopia based on his gospel of beauty; and
The Litany of Washington Street (1929), a book of political essays. His biography (1935) was written by his friend Edgar Lee Masters, and Mark Harris's
City of Discontent (1952) is an interpretation of his life and his region.
