However, in one of the most quoted appraisals of his work, Dorothy Parker reputedly said: “I’d rather flunk my Wassermann test than read a poem by Edgar Guest.” IN POPULAR CULTUREĪ favorite poet of Edith Bunker from the TV show All In The Family.
Guest’s work still occasionally appears in periodicals such as Reader’s Digest, and some favorites, such as “Myself” and “Thanksgiving,” are still studied today. Excerpt from “The Secret of the Ages” (1926) REPUTATION For failure comes from the inside first, It’s there, if we only knew it, And you can win, though you face the worst, If you feel that you’re going to do it. You can do as much as you think you can, But you’ll never accomplish more If you’re afraid of yourself, young man, There’s little for you in store. You may fail, but you may conquer – See it through! -Excerpt from “See It Through” When you’re up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face, Lift your chin, and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace, When it’s vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do. Within the hi how are you there’s got t’ be some babies born an’ then… Right there ye’ve got t’ bring em up t’ women good, an’ men Home ain’t a place that gold can buy or get up in a minute Afore it’s home there’s got t’ be a heap o’ living in it.” -Excerpt from “Home,” It takes A Heap o’ Livin’ (1916)
It don’t make a difference how rich ye get t’ be’ How much yer chairs and tables cost, how great the luxury It ain’t home t’ ye, though it be the palace of a king, Until somehow yer soul is sort o’ wrapped round everything. Guest’s most famous poem is the oft-quoted “Home”: His grand-niece Judith Guest is a successful novelist who wrote Ordinary People. When Guest died in 1959, he was buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery. Guest Award for lodges to present to non-Masons within the community who have demonstrated distinguished service to the community and their fellow man.
#DONT QUIT POEM EDGAR ALBERT GUEST FREE#
In honor of Guest’s devotion to the Craft, community, and humanity in general, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Michigan established the Edgar A. Guest was made a Freemason in Detroit, where he was a lifetime member of Ashlar Lodge No. He also had a thrice-weekly transcribed radio program that began January 15, 1941, and was sponsored by Land O’Lakes Creameries. His popularity led to a weekly Detroit radio show which he hosted from 1931 until 1942, followed by a 1951 NBC television series, A Guest in Your Home. Guest was made Poet Laureate of Michigan, the only poet to have been awarded the title. For 40 years, Guest was widely read throughout North America, and his sentimental, optimistic poems were in the same vein as the light verse of Nick Kenny, who wrote syndicated columns during the same decades.įrom his first published work in the Detroit Free Press until his death in 1959, Guest penned some 11,000 poems which were syndicated in some 300 newspapers and collected in more than 20 books, including A Heap o’ Livin’ (1916) and Just Folks (1923–1957). After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared 11 December 1898. In 1891, Guest moved with his family to the United States from England. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life.
Edgar Albert Guest (20 August 1881 in Birmingham, England – 5 August 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) was an English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People’s Poet.
0 kommentar(er)
