It Can Be Done - Joseph Morris
MASON, WALT. Born at Columbus, Ontario, May 4, 1862. Self-educated. Came
to the United States 1880; was connected with the Atchison _Globe_
1885-7; later with Lincoln, Neb., _State Journal_; editorial
paragrapher of the _Evening News_, Washington, 1893; with the Emporia,
Kan., _Gazette_ since 1907. Writes a daily prose poem which is
syndicated in over two hundred newspapers, and is believed to have the
largest audience of any living writer. Among his books are "Rhymes of
the Range," "Uncle Walt," "Walt Mason's Business Prose Poems,"
"Rippling Rhymes," "Horse Sense," "Terse Verse," and "Walt Mason, His
Book." _Lions and Ants; The Has-Beens; The Welcome Man_.
MILLER, JOAQUIN. Born in Indiana, Nov. 11, 1841; died Feb. 17, 1913. He
went to Oregon 1854; was afterwards a miner in California; studied
law; was a judge in Grant County, Oregon, 1866-70. For a while he was
a journalist in Washington, D.C.; returned to California 1887. He is
the author of various books of verse, and is called "The Poet of the
Sierras." _Columbus; To Those Who Fail_.
MILTON, JOHN. Born at London, Dec. 9, 1608; died there Nov. 8, 1674.
Attended St. Paul's School; at Cambridge 1625-32. At Horton, writing
and studying, 1632-38. In 1638 went to Italy; met Galileo in Florence.
During the great Civil War wrote pamphlets against the Royalists; was
made Latin Secretary to the new Commonwealth 1649; became totally
blind 1652. Until his third marriage in 1663, his domestic life had
been rendered unhappy by the undutifulness of his three daughters.
Among his works are "L'Allegro," "Il Penseroso," "Comus," "Lycidas,"
"Paradise Lost," "Paradise Regained," and "Samson Agonistes." _The
Inner Light_.
MORGAN, ANGELA. Born at Washington, D.C. Educated under private tutors
and at public schools; took special work at Columbia University. Began
early as a newspaper writer, first with the Chicago _American_; then
with the Chicago _Journal_, and New York and Boston papers. She is a
member of the Poetry Society of America, The MacDowell Club, Three
Arts, and the League of American Pen Women. She is one of the most
eloquent readers before the public to-day; was a delegate to the
Congress of Women at The Hague 1915, at which she read her poem
"Battle Cry of the Mothers." Her four books of poems are "The Hour Has
Struck," "Utterance, and Other Poems," "Forward, March!" and "Hail,
Man!" and a fifth is soon to be published. Her book of fiction "The
Imprisoned Splendor" contains well-known stories ("What Shall We Do
with Mother?" "The Craving," "Such Is the Love of Woman," and "The
Making of a Man"), some of which appeared previously in magazines. A
novel is shortly to be published. _A Song of Life; A Song of
Thanksgiving; Grief; Know Thyself; Stand Forth!; When Nature Wants a
Man; Work_.
MORRIS, JOSEPH. Born in Ohio 1889. College and university education;
professor of English and lecturer on literary subjects; newspaper and
magazine contributor; connected with publishing houses since 1917 in
various editorial capacities. _A Lesson from History; Borrowed
Feathers; Can You Sing a Song?; If You Can't Go Over or Under, Go
Round; Philosophy for Croakers; Swellitis; The Glad Song; The
Unmusical Soloist; Two Raindrops_.
N
NEIHARDT, JOHN GNEISENAU. Born near Sharpsburg, Ill., Jan. 8, 1881.
Completed the scientific course at the Nebraska Normal College 1897;
received the degree of Litt.D. from the University of Nebraska 1917.
Declared Poet Laureate of Nebraska by a joint resolution of the
Legislature, Apr. 1921, in recognition of the significance of the
American epic cycle upon which he has been working for eight years.
Winner of the prize of five hundred dollars offered by the Poetry
Society of America for the best volume of poetry ("The Song of Three
Friends") published by an American in 1919. Has been literary critic
of the Minneapolis _Journal_ since 1912. Among his books are "The
Divine Enchantment," "The Lonesome Trail," "A Bundle of Myrrh,"
"Man-Song," "The River and I," "The Dawn-Builder," "The Stranger at
the Gate," "Death of Agrippina," "Life's Lure," "The Song of Hugh
Glass," "The Quest," "The Song of Three Friends," "The Splendid
Wayfaring," and "Two Mothers." _Battle Cry_, 148; _Envoi_, 196; _Let
Me Live Out My Years_, 127; _Prayer for Pain_, 208.
NETTE, JEAN. _Challenge_, 119.
NEWBOLT, SIR HENRY. Born at Bilston, Eng., June 6, 1862. Educated at
Oxford; practised law until 1899; editor of _Monthly Review_ 1900-04;
Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature; created a Knight
1915. Among his books are "Taken from the Enemy," "Mordred," "Admirals
All," "The Island Race," "The Old Country," "The Book of Cupid,"
"Poems Old and New," and "The New June." _Play the Game_, 162.
NOYES, ALFRED. Born in Staffordshire, Eng., Sept. 16, 1880. Educated at
Oxford; received honorary degree of Litt.D. from Yale 1913; gave the
Lowell Lectures in America on "The Sea in English Poetry" 1913;
elected to Professorship of Modern Poetry at Princeton 1914;
temporarily attached to the foreign office 1916. Among his books are
"Collected Poems" (three volumes), "The Elfin Artist," "The New
Morning," "The Lord of Misrule," "A Belgian Christmas Eve," "The
Wine-Press," "Tales of the Mermaid Tavern," "Sherwood," "The Enchanted
Island," "Drake," "Beyond the Desert," "Walking Shadows," "Open
Boats," "The Golden Hynde." "The Flower of Old Japan," and "A Salute
from the Fleet." _The New Duckling_, 34.
O
O SHEEL, SHEAMUS. Born at New York City, Sept. 19, 1886. Educated in the
New York City grammar and high schools; took special work in English
and history at Columbia 1906-8. Member of the Poetry Society of
America and the Gaelic Society. Interested in political and civic
reforms. Among his books are "Blossomy Bough" and "The Light Feet of
Goats." _He Whom a Dream Hath Possessed_.
P
PROCTER, BRYAN WALLER ("Barry Cornwall"). Born at Leeds, Eng., Nov. 21,
1787; died Oct. 5, 1874. Educated at Harrow; schoolmate of Byron and
Sir Robert Peel; called to the bar 1831; commissioner of lunacy
1832-61. Among his books are "Dramatic Scenes, and Other Poems," "A
Sicilian Story," "Flood of Thessaly," and "English Songs." _Sit Down,
Sad Soul_.
R
RICE, GRANTLAND. Born at Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 1, 1880. Attended
Vanderbilt University. Worked as sporting writer on the Atlanta
_Journal_; came to New York City in 1911. His sporting column, "The
Sportlight," is said to be more widely syndicated and more widely read
than any other writing on topics of sport in the United States. Irvin
S. Cobb says that it often reaches the height of pure literature, and
as a writer of homely, simple American verse Grantland Rice is held by
many to be the logical successor to James Whitcomb Riley. He is author
of "Songs of the Stalwart" and editor of the _American Golfer_. _Brave
Life_; "_Might Have Been_"; _On Being Ready_; _On Down the Road_; _The
Answer_; _The Call of the Unbeaten_; _The Game_; _The Trainers_.
RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. Born at Greenfield, Ind., 1849; died at Indianapolis,
Ind., July 22, 1916. Public school education; received honorary degree
of M.A. from Yale 1902; Litt.D. from Wabash College 1903 and from the
University of Pennsylvania 1904, and LL.D. from Indiana University
1907. Began contributing poems to Indiana papers 1873; known as the
"Hoosier Poet," and much of his verse in the middle Western and
Hoosier dialect. Among his books are "The Old Swimmin' Hole,"
"Afterwhiles," "Old Fashioned Roses," "Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury,"
"Neighborly Poems," "Green Fields and Running Brooks," "Poems Here at
Home," "Child-Rhymes," "Love Lyrics," "Home Folks," "Farm-Rhymes," "An
Old Sweetheart of Mine," "Out to Old Aunt Mary's," "A Defective Santa
Claus," "Songs o' Cheer," "Boys of the Old Glee Club," "Raggedy Man,"
"Little Orphan Annie," "Songs of Home," "When the Frost Is on the
Punkin," "All the Year Round," "Knee-Deep in June," "A Song of Long
Ago," and "Songs of Summer." His complete works are issued by the
Bobbs-Merrill Company in the "Biographical Edition of James Whitcomh
Riley" 1913. _Just Be Glad_, 14; _My Philosophy_, 57.
RITTENHOUSE, JESSIE BELLE. Born at Mt. Morris, N.Y. Graduate of Genesee
Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N.Y.; teacher of Latin and English in a
private school at Cairo, Ill., and at Ackley Institute for Girls,
Grand Haven, Mich., 1893-4; active newspaper work and reviewer until
1900; contributor to New York _Times_ Review of Books and _The
Bookman_; lecturer on modern poetry in extension courses of Columbia
University. Her books are "The Little Book of Modern Verse," "The
Little Book of Modern American Verse," "Second Book of Modern Verse,"
"The Younger American Poets," and "The Door of Dreams." _My Wage_,
183.
S
SERVICE, ROBERT WILLIAM. Born at Preston, Eng., Jan. 10, 1874. Educated
at Hillhead Public School, Glasgow; served apprenticeship with the
Commercial Bank of Scotland, Glasgow; emigrated to Canada and settled
on Vancouver Island; for a while engaged in farming, and later
traveled up and down the Pacific coast, following many occupations;
finally joined the staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Victoria,
B.C., 1905; was later transferred to White Horse, Yukon Territory, and
then to Dawson; he spent eight years in the Yukon, much of it in
travel. In Europe during the Great War; in Paris 1921. Among his books
are "The Spell of the Yukon," "Ballads of a Cheerchako," "Rhymes of a
Rolling Stone," "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man," and "Ballads of a
Bohemian." _The Quitter_, 8.
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. Born at Stratford on Avon, Apr. 23, 1564; died
there Apr. 23, 1616, and buried in Stratford church. Probably attended
Stratford Grammar School; married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years
his senior, Nov., 1582; a daughter, Susanna, born May 1, 1583; twins,
Hamnet and Judith, born 1585. About 1585 went to London, and became
connected with the theater as actor, reviser of old plays, etc. His
son Hammet died 1596; his father applied for a coat of arms 1596.
Bought New Place at Stratford 1597; coat of arms granted 1599;
shareholder in Globe theater 1599. His father died 1601; his daughter
Susanna married to John Hall, a physician at Stratford, 1607; his
mother died 1608. Retired from theatre and returned to Stratford about
1611. His daughter Judith married to Thomas Quinney, a vintner, 1616;
his wife died 1623; last descendant, Lady Bernard, died 1670. Folio
edition of his plays 1623. Characterized by surpassing ability in both
comedy and tragedy, extraordinary insight into human character, and
supreme mastery of language. Besides his plays, which are too well
known to require listing, he wrote "Sonnets," "Venus and Adonis" and
"The Rape of Lucrece." _A Good Name_, 109; _Cowards_, 194; _Good
Deeds_, 216; _Having Done and Doing_, 52; _Opportunity_, 54; _Order
and the Bees_, 75; _Painting the Lily_, 188; _Polonius's Advice to
Laertes_, 49; _Sadness and Merriment_, 218; _Sleep and the Monarch_,
142; _Stability_, 157; _The Belly and the Members_, 152; _The Life
Without Passion_, 213.
SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE. Born at Field Place, Sussex, Eng., Aug. 4, 1792;
drowned off Vireggio, Italy, July 8, 1822. Educated at Eton 1804-10;
expelled from Oxford for publication of pamphlet "The Necessity of
Atheism" 1811. Married Harriet Westbrook 1811; left her 1814, and went
to Switzerland with Mary Godwin; returned to England 1815; received
L1000 a year from his grandfather's estate 1815. Harriet drowned
herself 1816, and he formally married Mary the next month. They went
to Italy 1818; he was drowned on a voyage to welcome Leigh Hunt to
Italy; his body burned on a funeral pyre in the presence of Byron,
Hunt, and Trelawney. Some of his well-known poems are "Queen Mab,"
"Alastor," "The Revolt of Islam," "Prometheus Unbound," "Adonais," "To
a Skylark," and "Ode to the West Wind"; he also wrote a poetical
tragedy, "The Cenci." _Prometheus Unbound_, 184.
SILL, EDWARD ROWLAND. Born at Windsor, Conn., 1841; died at Cleveland,
Ohio, Feb. 27, 1887. Graduated from Yale 1861; professor of English at
University of California 1874-82. _Faith_, 112; _Life_, 99;
_Opportunity_, 56.
SOUTHWELL, ROBERT. Born about 1561; executed at Tyburn, Feb. 21, 1595.
Educated at Paris; received into the Society of Jesus 1578; returned
to England 1586; became chaplain to the Countess of Arundel 1589;
betrayed to the authorities 1592; imprisoned for three years and
finally executed. _Times Go by Turns_, 122.
STANTON, FRANK LEBBY. Born at Charleston, S.C., Feb. 22, 1857. Common
school education; served apprenticeship as printer; identified with
the Atlanta press for years, especially with the Atlanta
_Constitution_ in which his poems have been a feature, and have won
for him a unique place among modern verse writers. Some of his books
are "Songs of the Soil," "Comes One With a Song," "Songs from Dixie
Land," "Up from Georgia," and "Little Folks Down South." _A Hopeful
Brother_, 67; _A Little Thankful Song_, 181; _A Poor Unfortunate_,
137; _A Pretty Good World_, 189; _A Song of To-Morrow_, 187; _Here's
Hopin'_, 164; _Hoe Your Row_, 203; _Just Whistle_, 38; _Keep A-Goin'!_
229; _This World_, 133.
STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS. Born at Edinburgh, Nov. 13, 1850; died at Apia,
Samoa, Dec. 4, 1894. Early education irregular because of poor
health; went to Italy with his parents 1863; at Edinburgh University
1867-73, at first preparing for engineering but later taking up law;
admitted to the bar 1875 but never practised. Various trips to the
Continent between 1873-79; visited America 1879-80; resided in
Switzerland, France, and England 1882-7; came to America again 1887-8;
voyages in Pacific 1888-91; at Vailima, Samoa, 1891-94. A conspicuous
example of a man always in poor health yet courageous and optimistic
throughout his life. Among his books are "A Lodging for the Night,"
"Travels with a Donkey," "Virginibus Puerisque," "New Arabian Nights,"
"Treasure Island," "A Child's Garden of Verse," "The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "Kidnapped," "The Master of Ballantrae,"
"Father Damien," "Ebb Tide," and "Weir of Hermiston." _The Celestial
Surgeon_.
T
TEICHNER, MIRIAM. Born at Detroit, Mich., 1888. Educated in public
schools there; graduated from Central High School; took special
courses in English and economics at the University of Michigan. Member
of staff of Detroit _News_ after leaving school, writing a daily
column of verse and humor; came to New York City as special feature
writer of the New York _Globe_ 1915; in Germany for the Detroit _News_
and Associated Newspapers writing of post-war social and economic
conditions 1921. _Awareness_; _Submission_; _The Struggle_; _Victory_.
TENNYSON, ALFRED LORD. Born at Somersby, Lincolnshire, Eng., Aug. 6, 1809;
died at Aldworth House, near Haslemere, Surrey, Oct. 6, 1892. Student
at Cambridge 1828-31, but did not take a degree; trip to the Pyrenees
with Arthur Hallam 1832; granted a pension of L200 by Peel 1845; after
residing successively at Twickenham and Aldworth, he settled at
Farringford, the Isle of Wight, 1853. Became poet laureate 1850;
raised to the peerage 1884. Some of his well-known poems are "The Lady
of Shalott," "The Palace of Art," "The Lotus Eaters," "A Dream of Fair
Women," "Oenone," "Morte d'Arthur," "Dora," "Ulysses," "Locksley
Hall," "The Princess," "In Memoriam," "Maud," "Ode on the Death of the
Duke of Wellington," "Charge of the Light Brigade," "Idylls of the
King," "Enoch Arden," and the plays "Queen Mary" and "Becket." _Life,
not Death_; _Ring Out, Wild Bells_; _The Greatness of the Soul_;
_Ulysses_; _Will_.
V
VAN DYKE, HENRY. Born at Germantown, Pa., Nov. 10, 1852; graduated at
Polytechnical Institute of Brooklyn 1869; A.B. degree from Princeton
1873; M.A. degree from there 1876; graduated from Princeton
Theological Seminary 1877; studied at University of Berlin 1877-9; has
received honorary degrees from Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Union,
Wesleyan, Pennsylvania, and Oxford. Pastor of United Congregational
Church, Newport, R.I., 1879-82, and of the Brick Presbyterian Church,
New York, 1883-1900; professor of English literature at Princeton from
1900; U.S. minister to the Netherlands and Luxemburg 1913-17. Author
of "The Poetry of Tennyson," "Sermons to Young Men," "Little Rivers,"
"The Other Wise Man," "The First Christmas Tree," "The Builders, and
Other Poems," "The Lost Word," "Fisherman's Luck," "The Toiling of
Felix, and Other Poems," "The Blue Flower," "Music, and Other Poems,"
"Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land," "The Mansion," and "The Unknown
Quantity." _Four Things, 3; Work_, 65.
W
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF. Born at Haverhill, Mass., Dec. 17, 1807; died
at Hampton Falls, N.H., Sept. 7, 1892. Of Quaker ancestory; father a
poor farmer; as a boy he injured his health by hard work on the farm.
Taught school; attended Haverhill Academy for two terms 1827-8; edited
Haverhill _Gazette_ 1830; returned to the farm in broken health 1832.
Member of Massachusetts Legislature 1835-6. An ardent opponent of
slavery; edited the Pennsylvania _Freeman_ 1838-40; several times
attacked by mobs because of his views on slavery. Leading writer for
the Washington _National Era _1847-57; contributed to the _Atlantic
Monthly_ 1857. Some of his well-known poems are "Maud Muller," "The
Barefoot Boy," "Barbara Freitchie," "Snow-Bound," and "The Eternal
Goodness." _My Triumph_, 90.
WIDDEMER, MARGARET. Born at Doylestown, Pa.; educated at home; graduated
at the Drexel Institute Library School 1909. Began writing in
childhood; her first published poem "The Factories" was widely quoted;
married Robert Haven Schauffler 1919. Among her books are "The
Rose-Garden Husband," "Winona of the Camp Fire," "Factories, with
Other Lyrics," "Why Not?" "The Wishing-Ring Man," "The Old Road to
Paradise," and "The Board Walk." _To Youth After Pain_, 103.
WILCOX, ELLA WHEELER. Born at Johnston Centre, Wis., 1855; died at her
home in Connecticut, Oct. 31, 1919. Educated "Poems of Pleasure,"
"Kingdom of Love," "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Progress," "Poems of
Sentiment," "New Thought Common Sense," "Picked Poems," "Gems from
Wilcox," "Faith," "Love," "Hope," "Cheer," and "The World and I."
_Life_, 139; _Smiles_, 226; _Solitude_, 16; _The Disappointed_, 126;
_Will_, 107; _Wishing_, 86; _Worth While_, 28.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM. Born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, Eng., Apr. 7, 1770;
died at Rydal Mount, Apr. 23, 1850. Educated at Hawkshead grammar
school and Cambridge University, where he graduated 1791. Traveled on
Continent 1790; in France 1791-2, where he sympathized with the French
republicans. Received L900 legacy 1795, and settled with his sister
Dorothy at Racedown, Dorsetshire; to be near Coleridge he removed to
Alfoxden 1797; went to Continent 1798; returned to England 1799, and
settled at Grasmere in the lake district; married Mary Hutchison 1802;
settled at Allan Bank 1808; removed to Grasmere 1811. Appointed
distributer of stamps 1813, and settled at Rydal Mount; traveled in
Scotland 1814 and 1832; on the Continent 1820 and 1837. Given a
pension of L300 by Peel 1842; became poet laureate 1843. Some of his
well-known poems are "The Excursion," "Tintern Abbey," "Yarrow
Revisited," "The Prelude," "Intimations of Immortality," and "We Are
Seven." _Ode to Duty_, 190; _The Daffodils_, 180; _The Rainbow_, 117.
WOTTON, SIR HENRY. Born at Bocton Malherbe, Kent, Eng., 1568; died at
Eton, 1639. Educated at Winchester and Oxford; on the Continent
1588-95; became the secretary of the Earl of Essex 1595; English
ambassador to Venice, Germany, etc.; became provost of Eton College
1624. _Character of a Happy Life_, 214.