Sunday, October 10, 2010

Happy (belated) Birthday, James Whitcomb Riley!

When the "frost is on the pumpkin and the fodder is the shock you know it is October." This is also when we remember  the birth of James Whitcomb Riley.  The renown Hoosier poet was born  October 7, 1849 in Greenfield, IN. Some of Riley's best poems chronicle his childhood and youth in his home town. 

Riley's parents feared that he was not going to amount to much.  He attempted to study law and become a lawyer like his father; however he found it difficult to apply himself to the demands of study.  Entertainment proved to be his best bet.  He became very adept at presenting his poems on the stage.  He traveled around the country reciting his increasingly popular poems.

He was referred to as a "dialect singer" and compared to Mark Twain in his ability to capture the frontier dialect.  When you read his poems you will see how he captured the rough-hewn dialect of one with little schooling. His "Little Orphant Annie" draws the children close with her tales of witches and ominous warning "the Gobble-uns 'at gits you Ef you Don't Watch Out!"

When Riley died in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent a note of condolence to the Riley family.  He wrote," With his departure a notable figure passes out of the nation's life; a man who imparted joyful pleasure and a thoughtful view of many things that other men would have missed."

Discover James Whitcomb Riley at CDPL!

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