Chapter 16
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.
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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 £1000 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_.
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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 £200 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_.
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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.
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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 £900 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 £300 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.