Tramping With a Poet in the Rockies

BOOKS BY STEPHEN GRAHAM
THE GENTLE ART OF TRAMPING THE DIVIDING LINE OF EUROPE IN QUEST OF EL DORADO TRAMPING WITH A POET IN THE ROCKIES EUROPE—WHITHER BOUND? THE CHALLENGE OF THE DEAD CHILDREN OF THE SLAVES A PRIVATE IN THE GUARDS THE QUEST OF THE FACE RUSSIA IN 1916 PRIEST OF THE IDEAL THROUGH RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA THE WAY OF MARTHA AND THE WAY OF MARY RUSSIA AND THE WORLD WITH POOR EMIGRANTS TO AMERICA WITH THE RUSSIAN PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM CHANGING RUSSIA A TRAMP’S SKETCHES UNDISCOVERED RUSSIA A VAGABOND IN THE CAUCASUS ST. VITUS DAY
TRAMPING WITH A POET IN THE ROCKIES
BY STEPHEN GRAHAM AUTHOR OF “EUROPE—WHITHER BOUND?”
WITH THIRTY-EIGHT EMBLEMS BY VERNON HILL
D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY INCORPORATED NEW YORK LONDON 1936
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Vachel Lindsay is the poet. He is best known as the author of General William Booth Enters Heaven , The Congo and Johnny Appleseed . He also wrote a highly comical piece called The Daniel Jazz . He is a wonderful reciter, and is aided by a sonorous, heaven-reaching voice. All his poems are written to be read aloud, chanted, or declaimed; in some cases they are written to be danced also, and played as games. In many of his recitations the audience is called upon to take part in choruses and refrains. Thus, in one poem, when Lindsay says, “I’ve been to Palestine,” the audience as one man has to cry back to him, “ What did you see in Palestine? ” This is rapturously enjoyed by the audience. When you have heard the poet you can well understand that he did not starve when he used to tramp in America and recite to the farmers for a meal and a night’s lodging. He has gained a great popularity.
He is, however, something more than an entertainer. He has a spiritual message to the world, and is deeply in earnest. In a large experience of men and women in many countries, I have rarely met such a rebel against vulgarity, materialism, and the modern artificial way of life. At the same time, despite his poetry, he is almost inarticulate. He has helped me, and here in a way I help him by giving in a new form part of the richness of his thoughts and his opinions.