Vachel Lindsay: How his life affected his works
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Abstract
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, born in Springfield, Illinois, on November 10, 1879, was the son of Esther Catherine Frazee Lindsay, a tireless worker in missionary work and women's clubs, and Doctor Vachel Thomas Lindsay. Mrs. Lindsay decided from the very beginning that her son would be an artist as she herself had unsuccessfully wished to be, and therefore she brought him up to be an artist as well as a Disciple of Christ, or Campbellite as she and her husband were. The atmosphere in the home was very devout and Vachel imbibed the feeling as well as the idea that he was a smart boy and destined to do great things in the field of art. Doctor Lindsay felt that his son was becoming too effeminate and tried to counteract any tendency to it by reading him the Uncle Remus stories and telling him about the negroes of his youth.
The main influences from his life which led to his poetry may be summarlzed under three headings, his parents, his education, and his travel.
The four main influences that affected Lindsay's works are then, his parents, his education, his travels, and his concepts, specifically his concepts of religion, art, idealism, heroism, and Springfield.
In conclusion it may be said that Lindsay's life, through the four main influences, were directly responsible for his propaganda poetry, materially affected his "in-between" poetry, and were in the background of all of his best poetry.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University
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