Edwin Markham

Markham worked between 1852 and 1940 across writer, poet, essayist, teacher of literature and school superintendent and 3 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in poetry. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are poetry. Ambrose Bierce, Hamlin Garland and Thomas Lake Harris are recorded as an influence. Places of work recorded in the authority are Oakland, Placerville and San Luis Obispo County. Residence is recorded at Rio de Janeiro and Brooklyn. Positions recorded include Oregon Poet Laureate. Works named in the authority record are The Man With the Hoe. Work by Edwin Markham is recorded in the collections of Oregon Poetry Collection. Distinctions recorded are Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets.

• Name — Edwin Markham • Born — 23 April 1852 • Birthplace — Oregon City, Oregon, U.S. • Died — 7 March 1940 • Place of death — Staten Island, New York, U.S. • Occupation — Poet • Education — California State Normal School • Notable Works — "The Man with the Hoe"

Edwin Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon, and was the youngest of 10 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth. At the age of four, he moved with his mother to Lagoon Valley in Solano County, California. He obtained a teaching certificate in 1870 from Pacific Methodist College in Vacaville. Markham then attended San Jose Normal School (now San Jose State University) graduating in 1872, and wrote the poem "The Man with the Hoe". The house in which he wrote the poem was preserved and moved to the city's History Park, and now serves as a poetry center. He went by "Charles" until about 1895, when he was about 43, when he started using "Edwin." He also studied at Christian College in Santa Rosa, California, in 1873.

• Illustration — L'homme à la houe by Jean-François Millet Markham taught literature in El Dorado County until 1879, when he became education superintendent of the county. While residing in El Dorado County, Markham became a member of Placerville Masonic Lodge. He 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, Ina Coolbrith, and Charles Warren Stoddard. Markham's most famous poem, "The Man with the Hoe," which accented laborers' hardships, was first presented at a public poetry reading in 1898. 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 groups. These happened as often as his poetry readings. His 1904 edition of the works of Edgar Allan Poe was followed by multiple volumes of The Real America in Romance, issued from 1909 through 1927 by New York publisher W. H. Wise. His edited works included several collections of British and American poetry. An accomplished and popular lecturer, Markham also wrote essays, popular articles that discussed his own compositional approaches, and introductions to the works of others. Among the latter, his subjects included John Keats, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His efforts to raise public awareness of social ills were capped by contributions to a major volume examining child labor, Children in Bondage, in 1914. • Illustration — A photograph of Markham in his later years In 1922, Markham's poem "Lincoln, the Man of the People" was selected from 250 entries to be presented at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. The author himself read the poem. Dr. Henry Van Dyke of Princeton said of the poem, "Edwin Markham's Lincoln is the greatest poem ever written on the immortal martyr, and the greatest that ever will be written." Later that year, Markham was filmed reciting the poem by Lee De Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. As recounted by literary biographer William R. Nash, "'['b]etween publications, Markham lectured and wrote in other genres, including essays and nonfiction prose. He also gave much of his time to organizations such as the Poetry Society of America, which he established in 1910. In 1922, at the conclusion to the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, Markham read a revised version of his poem, "Lincoln the Man of the People." Markham also wrote a number of epigrams, of which the best known is Outwitted. Throughout Markham's later life, many readers viewed him as an important voice in American poetry, a position signified by honors such as his election in 1908 to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Despite his numerous accolades, however, none of his later books achieved the success of the first two. American etiquette expert Amy Vanderbilt has said that Markham's single verse poem "Circles of Love" was written while Markham was a guest at her family home on Staten Island.

• Illustration — The Pioneer Monument at Pena Adobe Park, which features an engraving of Markham In 1898, Markham married his third wife, Anna Catherine Murphy (1859–1938), and in 1899 their son Virgil Markham was born. They moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1900 to study natives and their appeasement, then to New York City, where they lived in Brooklyn and then Great Kills, Staten Island. Markham was an admirer of economist Henry George, who he considered "one of the supreme heroes of humanity."

Edwin Markham was recorded at birth as Charles Edwin Anson Markham. The authorities additionally record the heading Charles Edward Anson Markham. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Elizabeth Markham. One child is recorded: Virgil Markham.

Edwin Markham is recorded with the occupation school superintendent. Recorded with the occupation teacher of literature. Classed in the genre poetry. Recorded as writer, poet, essayist, teacher of literature and school superintendent. Established in IMSLP under Category:Markham,_Edwin. Established in Library of Congress under n50041824. Established in FAST under 14331. What Edwin Markham did, and where. Markham worked at San Luis Obispo County. Markham worked at Placerville. Markham worked at Hayward. Markham worked at Oakland. Markham worked at Coloma.