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Vachel Lindsay

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Poet

The Resume

    (November 10, 1879-December 5, 1931)
    Born in Springfield, Illinois
    Birth name was Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
    Poems include 'The Congo,' 'General William Booth Enters Into Heaven,' 'Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight,' 'The Dandelion,' 'Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket' and 'The Jazz Birds'
    Nicknamed 'the Prairie Troubador'

Why he might be annoying:

    Early in his career, he hiked about the country trading his poems for food and shelter. He noted about his first trip, 'No one cared for my verse, and I turned beggar out of sheer desperation.'
    He sometimes donned blackface to perform his poem 'The Congo.'
    W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, 'Lindsay knows two things, and two things only, about Negroes: The beautiful rhythm of their music and the ugly side of their drunkards and outcasts. From this poverty of material he tries now and then to make a contribution to Negro literature.'
    When he was 45, he married a woman half his age.
    In a fit of paranoia, he drank lye, declaring 'They tried to get me -- I got them first.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was known for his dramatic poetry readings.
    He gave a poetry reading to President Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet.
    He wrote 'The Art of the Motion Picture' (1915), generally considered the first book of film criticism.
    William Butler Yeats praiseed his poetry for its musical quality.
    He served as a mentor to poets Sara Teasdale and Langston Hughes.
    He influenced the Beat Generation poets.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying