Traveling Bard Vachel Lindsay - Essay Example

Vachel Lindsay is a famous poet and a traveling bard. He has been acknowledged for his famous public dramatic deliveries, which kept poetic appreciation as one of the spoken arts alive in the Midwest. The poems’ strong rhythms, which were rooted in the vernacular of the Americans, such as The Santa Fe Trail and The Congo have been referred to as the literary heritage of the nation. He studied art in Chicago and New York. He began his writing but could not successfully sell his poetry and artwork in New York due to a lack of adequate money.

Illinois returned to his homeland Springfield in 1908. His writings back home were greatly influenced by incidents among his people. For instance, he witnessed the killing of several blacks in a race riot and wrote a variety of lectures, which were referred to as These Ten Lectures. Each lecture contained the heritage of local ethnic groups, comparing it with its role in Springfield. He also incorporated folklore and rhythms of the culture of the people in his writings such as Candle in the Cabin. His benevolent attitude towards nature and people resulted in most critics referring to him as Saint Francis modern-day Assisi (Barillas 200). Rural and small-town people found their voices in Illinois’s poetry. His works changed the impressions of Midwest regional culture in that they painted impressions, which had been extremely misunderstood. His works have been accepted for changing poetry from printed to performance art. Moreover, he celebrated the village at a time when American culture was turning towards teeming city centers.
Edger Lee Masters was born in Kansas, Garnett. He grew up in Illinois farmlands and studied law with his father instead of joining college. He later began expressing his views in plays and essays. It was not until 1914 that he began writing poems about his childhood experiences in Illinois. His poems and essays were greatly influenced by the Spoon River Anthology. They form a series of monologues capturing small-town American as well as Midwestern values (Russell 121). His poems are also largely influenced by a cemetery in Lewistown. His poems are conspicuously modern, leading readers to forget that they were written on Whitman and Browning’s deaths.

Lindsay’s poem, The Congo, is one of his most famous poems. However, to contemporary readers, the poem presents an offensive point of view on African subjects. Racial representation in the poem has remained a matter of debate and controversy. Critics have argued that The Congo is a racist poem. The fact that Linday was naïve about African-American life is certain. He further does not lack the self-consciousness of the problems associated with racial representation raised in the poem. There is no reason to bring back the odious example of cultural stereotyping to the Midwestern canon. The poem considerably accomplishes interesting formal innovations. However, it is notable that the cultural prepositions presented in the poem have counterparts in other poems by black Americans within the same period (Lindsay 98).
The Congo by Vachel Lindsay is a poem that has been analyzed, appreciated, and criticized by a variety of critics. The poem is highly appreciated for its incorporation of the cultural and social values of society. The poem forms a representation and a picture of the issues that were taking place within the society during its writing (Barillas 210). The poet also makes use of rhyming schemes throughout the poem. This technique is common among poems making a poem memorable and forming a musical effect. Although the rhyme scheme is irregular, it has a significant effect on the readers and the message being passed. The poet is also careful in his choice of diction. For instance, at one point, the author incorporates Biblical illusion in his effort to communicate the message.
Edger Lee Masters, as mentioned earlier, wrote most of his poems basing his ideas on a cemetery in Lewistown. He at one point speculated on what his after-death poems would contain. Historically, linguists have not come across any other poet who speculates on their after-death poems. For Masters, the most probable ideas in his after-death poems would be based on his career as a writer and a politician. An epitaph would most probably be refuted by comparing it with a biography. Read More