Vachel Lindsay is considered a founder of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.
14 Facts About Vachel Lindsay
2.
The location of his childhood home influenced Lindsay, and one of his poems, "The Eagle Forgotten", eulogizes Illinois governor John P Altgeld, whom Lindsay admired for his courage in pardoning the anarchists involved in the Haymarket Affair, despite the strong protests of US President Grover Cleveland.
3.
Vachel Lindsay studied medicine at Ohio's Hiram College from 1897 to 1900, but he did not want to be a doctor; his parents were pressuring him toward medicine.
4.
Vachel Lindsay left Hiram anyway, heading to Chicago to study at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1900 to 1903.
5.
Vachel Lindsay remained interested in art for the rest of his life, drawing illustrations for some of his poetry.
6.
Vachel Lindsay tried to sell his poems on the streets.
7.
From March to May, 1906, Vachel Lindsay traveled roughly 600 miles on foot from Jacksonville, Florida, to Kentucky, again trading his poetry for food and lodging.
8.
From April to May, 1908, Vachel Lindsay undertook another poetry-selling trek, walking from New York City to Hiram, Ohio.
9.
Vachel Lindsay himself indicated in the 1915 preface to "The Congo" that no less a figure than William Butler Yeats respected his work.
10.
In 1915, Vachel Lindsay gave a poetry reading to President Woodrow Wilson and the entire Cabinet.
11.
Desperate for money, Vachel Lindsay undertook an exhausting string of readings throughout the East and Midwest from October 1928 through March 1929.
12.
In that same year, coinciding with the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Vachel Lindsay published two more poetry volumes: The Litany of Washington Street and Every Soul A Circus.
13.
Vachel Lindsay gained money by doing odd jobs throughout but in general earned very little during his travels.
14.
Camp notes that on Vachel Lindsay's tombstone is recorded a single word, "Poet".