Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
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Nicholas Vachel LindsayModern American poet, Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was born November
10, 1879 to Vachel Thomas Lindsay and Catherine Lindsay née Frazee, in Springfield,
Illinois. Depressed and unstable in later years, he
committed suicide by drinking poison and died December 5, 1931. Lindsay in his youth began traveling the country reciting his poems in return for food and shelter, in an attempt to revive poetry as an oral art form of the common people. The verse of Vachel Lindsay is characterized by its powerful rhythms, vivid imagery, and bold rhymes and express an ardent patriotism, a passion for progressive democracy, and a romantic view of nature. He first received widespread recognition for the volume General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems (1913), about the founder of the Salvation Army. His other volumes of poetry include The Congo and Other Poems (1914), The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems (1917), and Every Soul Is a Circus (1929). His prose writings include the autobiographical Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (1914) and A Handy Guide for Beggars (1916). Much of the controversy and tragedy of Vachel Lindsay's life can be found at the following link. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lindsay/lindsay.htm The University of Toronto English Library provides the text of selected poems by American poet Vachel Lindsay. This site is located at: http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/lindsay.html The Y-chromosome DNA haplotype for the Lindsay lineage of Nicholas Vachel Lindsay is represented in the Lindsay International DNA Database by a proven genealogical relationship with DNA participant L0091. See DNA Group 1 results. Page Initially Posted: June 28, 2001; Last Updated: September 25, 2006.
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