In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • "Shoes of Song and Wings of Rhyme": Vachel Lindsay's Poetry for Children *
  • Blair Whitney (bio)

Vachel Lindsay committed suicide by drinking a bottle of Lysol. At the end he was completely broken, virtually bankrupt, no longer popular, desperately trying to regain the vigor and energy which characterized his best poetry and which sent him across the country in a furious, but ultimately futile attempt to convert America to his Gospel of Beauty. Like other Romantic poets, he worshipped the visionary gleam, and like them he admired the innocence of childhood, which he tried to retain throughout his life. His almost deliberate avoidance of family and financial responsibilities, his insistence that the Philistines were out to destroy him, and his refusal to recognize that his best work was done made him seem a kind of child himself. On the evening of his suicide, one biographer reveals, Lindsay railed at his wife for three hours.

Yet the very things which made Lindsay a failure as a responsible adult helped make him one of the best children's poets of this century. Critics of Lindsay may legitimately accuse him of lacking the coherent philosophy which enables a lyric poet to work beyond his youth, and they may term him a mere "music-maker," but these deficiencies make his poetry even more appealing to children. Although only a few of his poems are specifically for children, almost all his work may be read, recited, chanted, and sung by them. Always a superb entertainer whose reading audiences may have numbered in the millions, Lindsay was a master of the music of poetry, from the "Willy willy willy wah Hoo!" of "The Kallyope Yell" to the whispered close of "The Flower-Fed Buffaloes," and from the joyous hymn tune of "General Booth" to the jazzy "boomlay-boom" of "The Congo." Although he professed to hate jazz (Lindsay was for Temperance; jazz meant speak-easies), and although he was almost tone deaf, Lindsay was always a singer of words to improvised and borrowed tunes. He was exactly the right kind of poet for the new Jazz Age, though like a pop idol, he lacked the staying power to become a literary great in the usual sense. Scholars have him pigeonholed as a good minor poet, worthy of a few pages in the anthologies, but children know otherwise.

Of all Lindsay's work, only a few poems are too advanced or too much of their own time ("Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket," for example) for younger readers. The others can be divided into three groups: poems about historical or legendary figures; moon-and-fairy poems; and poems about animals. The first group contains [End Page 142] most of his best work. A celebrator of American heroes, Lindsay tried to create a sort of pantheon of demi-gods for Americans to draw inspiration from. These heroes, he believed, were men and women who understood the genius of America, and if Americans would but study these lives, they might be persuaded to overturn the capitalists in power and restore America's lost beauty. Brother of a missionary in China, Lindsay hoped in these poems to convert America to his own gospel, and he preached in rhymes which are full of music, full of vigor, full of life—and which catch children's fancy.

The first of these heroes and the subject of Lindsay's first successful poem is General William Booth of the Salvation Army. Lindsay's marginal notes call for this poem to be sung to the tune of "The Blood of the Lamb," accompanied by the bass drum, banjo, flute, and tambourine, but even without these instruments, it makes a joyful noise with its grand rhythm.

Booth led boldly with his big bass drum—(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)The Saints smiled gravely and they said: "He's come."(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)1

Another religious hero is Darnel, cast into a den of ferocious, but delightfully growly lions.

We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel,We want Darnel, Daniel, Daniel.

"How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza" is a similar piece with plenty of action and the...

pdf

Share