Vachel Lindsay - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Along with Edgar Lee Masters & Carl Sandburg; I am known as one of Illinois' Prairie Poets. I was born Nicholas Vachel Lindsay in Springfield, Illinois on November 10, 1879, the second child of Dr. Vachel T. Lindsay and Esther Catharine Frazee. Although I considered myself an artist first and foremost, I rose to fame as a poet with the publication of "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven" in 1913. Touring the country and performing in my eccentric, vivid manner I became a household name. Although my books didn't sell like I imagined, I made a good living on the performance circuit. It was a demanding, exhausting way to live. Aside from "Booth" some of my most memorable poems are "the Congo", "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight (in Springfield, Illinois)" and "the Chinese Nightengale". I also wrote extensive pieces detailing my "Gosple of Beauty", a method of national improvement and "the Art of the Moving Picture". The latter is the first important work on film as art and is still widely regarded today. In Spokane, Washington I met and married Elizabeth Conner. Together we had two children, Nick and Susan. My family returned to Springfield in 1929 and established ourselves, once again, in my "ancestral castle" at 603 S. 5th Street. On December 5, 1931, depressed and in poor health, I ingested Lysol, committing suicide in the home in which I was born.
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Writers, poets, artists, people that love books...those who want to change the world. This page is designed to raise awareness of Vachel Lindsay and his message. The Gospel of Beauty will be spread, one person at a time, across MySpace and, hopefully, around the world! Join the group "The Life and Times of Vachel Lindsay" at http://groups.myspace.com/vachellindsay

My Blog

Pat Quinn pushes to keep state parks open

from the State Journal-Register... LIeutenant governor starts online petition drive By CHRIS YOUNG THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER Posted Sep 17, 2008 @ 11:47 PM Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn launched hi...
Posted by on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:29:00 GMT

Springfield Magical

In this, the City of my Discontent, Sometimes there comes a whisper from the grass, "Romance, Romance is here. No Hindu town Is quite so strange. No Citadel of Brass By Sinbad found, held half such ...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 08:51:00 GMT

The Wizard in the Street

..> ..> The Wizard in the Street ..> ..> [Concerning Edgar Allan Poe]Who now will praise the Wizard in the street With loyal songs, with humors grave and sweet This Jingle-ma...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 08:37:00 GMT

The Empty Boats

Why do I see these empty boats, sailing on airy seas? One haunted me the whole night long, swaying with every breeze, Returning always near the eaves, or by the skylight glass: There it will wait me m...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:27:00 GMT

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight (In Springfield, Illinois)

It is portentous, and a thing of stateThat here at midnight, in our little townA mourning figure walks, and will not rest,Near the old court-house pacing up and down,Or by his homestead, or in shadowe...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:26:00 GMT

General William Booth Enters Into Heaven

To be sung to the tune of The Blood of the Lamb with indicated instrumentI [Bass drum beaten loudly.]Booth led boldly with his big bass drum (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)The Saints smile...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:24:00 GMT

The Dream of All the Springfield Writers

I'll haunt this town, though gone the maids and men, The darling few, my friends and loves today. My ghost returns, bearing a great sword-pen When far-off children of their play. That pen will ...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:09:00 GMT

The Works of Vachel Lindsay: A Bibliography

VACHEL LINDSAY: A BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKS The Tree of Laughing Bells.. (1905) The Tramps Excuse and Other Poems (1909) Rhymes to be Traded for Bread (1912) General William Booth Enters into Heave...
Posted by on Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:55:00 GMT

Lindsay’s Tramps

by John Weissberg and Jeremy Bentley see more at the outstanding website on Vachel Lindsay by students at Springfield High School http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/lanphi...
Posted by on Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:31:00 GMT

The Gospel of Beauty

On three seperate occassions Lindsay set out on tramps across America on a mission to spread the Gospel of Beauty, a mystical message by which he hoped to change the world. In 1906, 1908 and, the most...
Posted by on Sat, 14 Jul 2007 08:44:00 GMT