American Poems and Poets You Should Know Quiz

Answer: Solitude

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) wrote this poem after riding on a train in a car with a woman in mourning for her dead husband. She spent the time on the train trying to comfort the woman. Wilcox was headed for an inaugural ball at the time but was so depressed after her time on the train, she could hardly manage to attend the festivities. After arriving at her destination she wrote the opening lines of the poem that would become "Solitude".

"Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone,
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own."

When she later completed the poem, she sent it into the "New York Sun" where it was published in 1883. She received five dollars for the work.

Answer: I Have a Rendezvous with Death

Alan Seeger is the uncle of folk singer Pete Seeger. He was a classmate of T. S. Eliot at Harvard. After graduating from Harvard in 1910, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York to write poetry. Later, he moved to the Latin Quarter in Paris. When the first World War broke out, he joined the French Foreign Legion (the United States did not join the war until 1917). He was killed on July 4, 1916. He had often expressed the desire to die for a glorious cause at an early age. His well known poem ends this way:

"But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous."

Answer: Woodman, Spare That Tree!

"Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now."

This is the beginning of "Woodman, Spare That Tree!". It is quoted frequently by environmental groups still today. Morris was well regarded as a songwriter and "Woodman, Spare That Tree!" was set to music in 1837 soon after he wrote it.

Answer: round the world

Emerson (1803-1882)was an essayist, lecturer and leader of the transcendentalist movement. "Concord Hymn" established him as a poet as well. It was written for the dedication of a monument to the battle of Concord. The monument was dedicated on July 4, 1837 and "Concord Hymn" was recited and then sung by a choir as a hymn at the dedication. Emerson had moved to Concord in 1834 and his grandfather had actually witnessed the battle, so Emerson had a personal connection to the location and the event.

He died in Concord in 1882. The words "the shot heard round the world" have become a fixture in the lore of the American Revolution and perhaps the most famous words Emerson ever wrote.

Answer: The Bells

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)never saw "The Bells" published, as that did not occur until after his death in 1849. The exact year he wrote the poem is unclear. The poem is often pointed to as an example of onomatopoeic usage. A poem in four stanzas that get progressively darker; bells are first jingling and tinkling in the first stanza, but by the final stanza are moaning and groaning. It is in the lighter first stanza that Poe uses this rather unusual word.

"Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-"

Although Poe is often credited with coining hundreds of words in his work, it is not certain that tintinnabulation is a Poe invention (a number of sources give the credit to Poe). It was used by both Dickens and Bulwer Lytton in works that were published prior to "The Bells", but Poe could still have invented the word as it is uncertain when "The Bells" was actually written.

Answer: Is the hand that rules the world

William Ross Wallace (1819 - 1881) was a well-known and much respected poet in the nineteenth century. Wallace was born in Lexington, Kentucky and, after studying in Indiana and Kentucky, went to New York City to practice law. He wrote poems and novels in his spare time.

When the Civil War broke out, Wallace, a supporter of the Union, wrote some patriotic songs which were set to music and became very popular. Unfortunately, most of his work is forgotten today. By far, his most famous poem is "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that Rules the World".

This is Wallace's salute to women and motherhood. Entire generations may not know the name William Ross Wallace, but they know the title of this poem.

Answer: Home, Sweet Home

John Howard Payne (1791 - 1852) was an American poet as well as an author, actor, and playwright. He left college in 1808, in order to act on the stage in New York. He was immediately well received and acclaimed as an actor, and in 1813 he left for England to work in the theatre there as well. Again he was highly thought of for his on-stage performance.

He wrote dramas and contributed to operas as well, including "Clari,the Maid of Milan", which was produced by Sir Henry Bishop. "Home, Sweet Home" was included in the work, with music added to the poem by Bishop, and became a hit song in most of the English-speaking world. Payne returned to the United States in 1832.

He spent a great deal of time with the Cherokee Indians, whom he believed were one of the lost tribes of Israel.

In 1841, he was appointed American Consul to Tunis, Africa. He died there in 1852.

Answer: His tombstone when he's dead

The final stanza of the poem is this:

"If he earns your praise - bestow it;
if you like him let him know it;
Let the words of true encouragement be said;
Do not wait till life is over
and he's underneath the clover,
For he cannot read his tombstone
when he's dead."

Berton Braley (1882 - 1966) was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He was the son of a judge who died when Berton was 7 years old. Berton published his first work, a fairy tale called "Why the Grass is Green", when he was 11. At age 18, he discovered an instruction book on how to make verse, called "The Rhymester" by Tom Hood. This was a great influence on Braley and his poetry. He was very prolific and published verse in many magazines and papers. He was also an editor, newspaper reporter, novelist, and lyricist. He wrote the words to "Wisconsin Forward Forever" a marching song written for the University of Wisconsin by John Philip Sousa. He published 20 books in his life, many of them collections of poetry.

Answer: Liquor is quicker

Frederick Ogden Nash (1902-1971)wrote this gem as well as many other humorous poems. He published 19 books of poetry. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1950. When he died the New York Times noted that his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry." His poetic style was often imitated (and often very badly) but the imitation indicates the appreciation given to his work. Generations can recite many of Nash's poems. They are short, humorous gems that bring a smile. I leave you with Nash's "A Word to Husbands"

"To keep your marriage brimming,
with love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it:
Whenever you're right, shut up."

Answer: Little Orphant Annie

James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) wrote "Little Orphant Annie", and many of the approximately 1,000 poems he composed, in dialect. These poems gave a quality of realism to the words and the dialect reflected the speech Riley heard as he grew up in central Indiana. "Little Orphant Annie" was actually based on an orphan girl named Allie Smith who came to stay with Riley's mother and the children while his father was away during the American Civil War. Riley had intended that the poem be called "Little Orphant Allie" but a mistake by the printer changed the name forever.

Riley eventually became very wealthy from his poems and was known as the "Hoosier Poet" as well as the "Children's Poet". When he died, his body lay in state under the Indiana state capital rotunda and thousands of Hoosiers walked by to pay their respects.

If you are feeling unkind toward those around you, remember this:

"You better mind yer parunts, and yer teachurs fond and dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, 'an dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!"

The ending of "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley