Authors

American · 1879–1931

Vachel Lindsay

Vachel Lindsay was an American performance poet who invented a new kind of public poetry: democratic, percussive, rooted in African American musical traditions and evangelical Christianity, designed for oral performance with drum accompaniment. His 'General William Booth Enters into Heaven' (1913) and 'The Congo' brought an electric new sound into American poetry. He died by suicide, drinking Lysol, at fifty-two — his popularity had declined and he was exhausted by years of gruelling lecture tours.