General William Booth enters into Heaven, and other poems

General William Booth enters into Heaven, and other poems (1916)
by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
596786General William Booth enters into Heaven, and other poems1916Nicholas Vachel Lindsay


GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH
ENTERS INTO HEAVEN
AND OTHER POEMS

BY VACHEL LINDSAY

THE CONGO AND OTHER POEMS

GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH
ENTERS INTO HEAVEN

THE ART OF THE MOVING PICTURE

ADVENTURES WHILE PREACHING
THE GOSPEL OF BEAUTY

GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH
ENTERS INTO HEAVEN AND
OTHER POEMS BY


VACHEL LINDSAY



NEW YORK

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1916

Copyright 1913 by

The Macmillan Company


Printed in America

This book is dedicated to

Dr. Arthur Paul Wakefield

and

Olive Lindsay Wakefield

Missionaries in China

MEMORIAL.


Because I believe that Sidney Lanier was much more than a clever artisan in rhyme and metre; because he will, I think, take his final rank with the first princes of American song, I am glad to provide this slight memorial. There is sufficient material in his letters for an extremely interesting biography, which could be properly prepared only by his wife. These pages can give but a sketch of his life and work.

Sidney Lanier was born at Macon, Ga., on the third of February, 1842. His earliest known ancestor of the name was Jerome Lanier, a Huguenot refugee, who was attached to the court of Queen Elizabeth, very likely as a musical composer; and whose son, Nicholas, was in high favor with James I. and Charles I., as director of music, painter, and political envoy; and whose grandson, Nicholas, held a similar position in the court of Charles II. A portrait of the elder Nicholas Lanier, by his friend Van Dyck, was sold, with other pictures belonging to Charles I., after his execution. The younger Nicholas was the first Marshal, or presiding officer, of the Society of Musicians, incorporated at the Restoration, "for the improvement of the science and the interest of its professors;" and it is remarkable that four others of the name of Lanier were among the few incorporators, one of them, John Lanier, very likely father of the Sir John Lanier who fought as Major General at the Battle of the Boyne, and fell gloriously at Steinkirk along with the brave Douglas.

The American branch of the family originated as early as 1716 with the immigration of Thomas Lanier who settled with other colonists on a grant of land ten miles square, which includes the present city of Richmond, Va. One of the family, a Thomas Lanier, married an aunt of George Washington. The family is somewhat widely scattered, chiefly in the Southern States.

The father of our poet was Robert S. Lanier, a lawyer still living in Macon, Ga. His mother was Mary Anderson, a Virginian of Scotch descent, from a family that supplied members of the House of Burgesses of Virginia for many years and in more than one generation, and was gifted in poetry, music, and oratory.

His earliest passion was for music. As a child he learned to play, almost without instruction, on every kind of instrument he could find; and while yet a boy he played the flute, organ, piano, violin, guitar, and banjo, especially devoting himself to the flute in deference to his father, who feared him for the powerful fascination of the violin. For it was the violin-voice that, above all others, commanded his soul. He has related that during his college days it would sometimes so exalt him in rapture, that presently he would sink from his solitary music-worship into a deep trance, thence to awake, alone, on the floor of his room, sorely shaken in nerve.

CONTENTS
general william booth enters into heaven PAGE
1
the drunkards in the street 5
the city that will not repent 6
the trap 9
where is david the next king of israel? 12
on reading omar khayyam 14
the beggar's valentine 16
honor among scamps 19
the gamblers 20
on the road to nowhere 22
upon returning to the country road 24
the angel and the clown 26
springfield magical 28
incense 29
the wedding of the rose and the lotos 30
king arthur's men have come again 32
foreign missions in battle array 34
star of my heart 36
look you, i'll go pray 38
at mass 39
heart of god 40
the empty boats 41
with a bouquet of twelve roses 42
st. francis of assisi 43
buddha 44
a prayer to all the dead among mine own people 45
to reformers in despair 46
why i voted the socialist ticket 47
to the united states senate 49
the knight in disguise 52
the wizard in the street 55
the eagle that is forgotten 58
shakespeare 60
michaelangelo 61
titian 62
lincoln 63
the cornfields 64
sweet briars of the stairways 65
fantasies and whims:—
the fairy bridal hymn 67
the potato's dance 68
how a little girl sang 70
ghosts in love 71
the queen of bubbles 72
the tree of laughing bells, or the wings of morning 74
sweethearts of the year 82
the sorceress 85
caught in a net 86
eden in winter 87
genesis 91
queen mab in the village 94
the dandelion 99
the light o' the moon 100
a net to snare the moonlight 106
beyond the moon 107
the song of the garden-toad 109
a gospel of beauty:—
the proud farmer 112
the illinois village 114
on the building of springfield 117

The author wishes to thank the editors of
Poetry, The Outlook, The Independent, The
American Magazine, and Farm and Fireside
(Springfield, Ohio), for permission to reprint
poems included in this volume.


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1931, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 92 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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