Edwin Markham
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See also E. A. Markham, the poet born in Montserrat
Charles Edwin Anson Markham (April 23, 1852 - March 7, 1940) was an American poet.
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Early Life
Charles was the youngest of 6 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth. At the age of four, he moved to Lagoon Valley, an area northeast of San Francisco; there, he lived with his sister and mother. He worked on the family’s farm beginning at twelve. He went by "Charles" until circa 1895, when he preferred "Edwin".
Education
He attended an early college in Vacaville, California, where he studied his favorite realm of learning, literature. His mother, however, was opposed to his higher education (at the time, children rarely could afford to leave the farm). In Vacaville, Charles was able to earn enough money to continue his education in Santa Rosa. Markham completed his classical courses in 1873.
Careers
Markham tought literature in El Dorado County until 1879, when he became education superintendent of the county. Charles also accepted a job as principal of Tompkins Observation School in Oakland, California in 1890. While in Oakland, he became well acquainted with many other famous contemporary writers and poets, such as Joaquin Miller, Donna Coolbrith, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Edmund Clarence Stedman.
Poetry
Edwin's first public poetry reading was at a New Year's Eve party in 1898. He read The Man with the Hoe, which accented laborers' hardships. His main inspiration was a French painting of the same name (in French, L'homme à la houe) by Jean-François Millet. Markham's poem was published, and it became quite popular very soon. In New York, he gave many lectures to labor and radical groups. These happened as often as his poetry readings.
Major Works
Poetry
- The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems - (1899)
- Lincoln and Other Poems - (1901)
- Gates of Paradise - (1920)
- Eighty Poems at Eighty - (1932)
- The Ballad of the Gallows Bird - (published 1960)
Prose
- Children in Bondage (1914)
- This work was very influential in the 19th century movement against child labor.
Also, Markham edited several anthologies of poetry.
Family
By 1898, Edwin married Anna Catherine Murphy; she was his third wife. They moved to New York City in 1901, where they lived in Brooklyn and then Staten Island.
Other Facts
Edwin Markham had, by the time of his death, amassed a huge personal library of 15 000+ volumes. All of these books were bequeathed to Wagner College's Horrmann Library, located on Staten Island. Markham also willed his personal papers to the library. Edwin's correspondents included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, Carl Sandburg and Amy Lowell.
External Links
- A short biography of Edwin Markham (http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C01050F)
- "Edwin Markham: Poet of Democracy" (http://www.boondocksnet.com/editions/progressive/pmwm24.html)
- "Poet of Conscience and Cause" (http://www.philosophy.org/webarticles/text/markham1.htm)
- Text of "The Man with the Hoe" along with a picture of "L'homme à la houe" (http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~wyllys/manwhoe.html)