C of C 3-3-12 Vachel Lindsay:  Poet, Tramp and  Favorite Son of Illinois
Channel: Tim Bolger
Date: 2012-06-10

Meeting # 3,158 - Lecture and reading by journalist/poet/folksinger Job Conger of Springfield, Illinois, author and publisher of Vachel Lindsay, Strange Gold, a concise biography and compendium of his poems and Lindsay lore.

Springfield, IL, is the birthplace and long-time home of American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879 - 1931, who became famous in the early part of the 20th Century for his unique style of poetry.  He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. His extensive correspondence with the poet Yeats details his intentions to revive the musical qualities in poetry as had been practiced by the ancient Greeks.

Because of his identity as a performance artist and his use of American Midwest themes, Lindsay became known in the 1910s as the "Prairie Troubador." For the final twenty years of his life, Lindsay was one of the best-known poets in America. His reputation was high enough to enable him to befriend, encourage, and mentor other poets, such as Langston Hughes and Sara Teasdale. 

http://www.aeroknow.com/arts/lindsaypoet.htm

http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/g_l/lindsay/lindsay.htm