The poet
The poet Madison Cawein wrote poetry about fairies or about Julia, a name he found carved, discrete on a tree. He, nicknamed Keats of Kentucky, would use the same traditional approach for his work, about his love of nature, died age 49. His international reputation, 36 books, 1500 poems, losses, home and library in the 1912 crash, left him destitute, and living on his benefactors’ relief list his final months of 1914.
13 thoughts on "The poet"
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Nice tribute to Madison C.
Thanks, Jim. It was short like his productive life.
He was an interesting character. I have a poem about him in my upcoming chapbook “Under Glass.” It is called “The Prolific” because I saw a quote where one of his critics said that maybe he wrote too much.
He could not change his poetry at a time when that was happening everywhere. Good luck with your chapbook and his poem you wrote.
a lovely tribute. And so sad to think about at the same time. Well done.
He rose to the top like cream, but life was too cruel for him to survive it. Thanks for reading.
Yes! Nice poem about an undersung poet!
His fame seems to have died with him. That is sad, but he wanted to be like English and other European poets instead of becoming modern as poets he knew were.
Your poem has me looking up the Keats of Kentucky.
I love that first verse. I’m fairly new to Kentucky (three years) so this particular poet is new to me. What an intriguing story about a brother in poetry.
Thanks for loving the poem. Cawein gained fame and his archaic subjects and words went out of style, taking his fame
with them.
Gaby, I have collect a couple of his books.
collected