O SHEEL, SHEAMUS. Born at New York City, Sept. 19, 1886. Educated in the New York City grammar and high schools; took special work in English and history at Columbia 1906-8. Member of the Poetry Society of America and the Gaelic Society. Interested in political and civic reforms. Among his books are "Blossomy Bough" and "The Light Feet of Goats." He Whom a Dream Hath Possessed.
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PROCTER, BRYAN WALLER ("Barry Cornwall"). Born at Leeds, Eng., Nov. 21, 1787; died Oct. 5, 1874. Educated at Harrow; schoolmate of Byron and Sir Robert Peel; called to the bar 1831; commissioner of lunacy 1832-61. Among his books are "Dramatic Scenes, and Other Poems," "A Sicilian Story," "Flood of Thessaly," and "English Songs." Sit Down, Sad Soul.
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RICE, GRANTLAND. Born at Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 1, 1880. Attended Vanderbilt University. Worked as sporting writer on the Atlanta Journal; came to New York City in 1911. His sporting column, "The Sportlight," is said to be more widely syndicated and more widely read than any other writing on topics of sport in the United States. Irvin S. Cobb says that it often reaches the height of pure literature, and as a writer of homely, simple American verse Grantland Rice is held by many to be the logical successor to James Whitcomb Riley. He is author of "Songs of the Stalwart" and editor of the American Golfer. Brave Life; "Might Have Been"; On Being Ready; On Down the Road; The Answer; The Call of the Unbeaten; The Game; The Trainers.
RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. Born at Greenfield, Ind., 1849; died at Indianapolis,
Ind., July 22, 1916. Public school education; received honorary degree
of M.A. from Yale 1902; Litt.D. from Wabash College 1903 and from the
University of Pennsylvania 1904, and LL.D. from Indiana University
1907. Began contributing poems to Indiana papers 1873; known as the
"Hoosier Poet," and much of his verse in the middle Western and
Hoosier dialect. Among his books are "The Old Swimmin' Hole,"
"Afterwhiles," "Old Fashioned Roses," "Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury,"
"Neighborly Poems," "Green Fields and Running Brooks," "Poems Here at
Home," "Child-Rhymes," "Love Lyrics," "Home Folks," "Farm-Rhymes," "An
Old Sweetheart of Mine," "Out to Old Aunt Mary's," "A Defective Santa
Claus," "Songs o' Cheer," "Boys of the Old Glee Club," "Raggedy Man,"
"Little Orphan Annie," "Songs of Home," "When the Frost Is on the
Punkin," "All the Year Round," "Knee-Deep in June," "A Song of Long
Ago," and "Songs of Summer." His complete works are issued by the
Bobbs-Merrill Company in the "Biographical Edition of James Whitcomh
Riley" 1913. Just Be Glad, 14; My Philosophy, 57.
RITTENHOUSE, JESSIE BELLE. Born at Mt. Morris, N.Y. Graduate of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, N.Y.; teacher of Latin and English in a private school at Cairo, Ill., and at Ackley Institute for Girls, Grand Haven, Mich., 1893-4; active newspaper work and reviewer until 1900; contributor to New York Times Review of Books and The Bookman; lecturer on modern poetry in extension courses of Columbia University. Her books are "The Little Book of Modern Verse," "The Little Book of Modern American Verse," "Second Book of Modern Verse," "The Younger American Poets," and "The Door of Dreams." My Wage, 183.
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SERVICE, ROBERT WILLIAM. Born at Preston, Eng., Jan. 10, 1874. Educated at Hillhead Public School, Glasgow; served apprenticeship with the Commercial Bank of Scotland, Glasgow; emigrated to Canada and settled on Vancouver Island; for a while engaged in farming, and later traveled up and down the Pacific coast, following many occupations; finally joined the staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Victoria, B.C., 1905; was later transferred to White Horse, Yukon Territory, and then to Dawson; he spent eight years in the Yukon, much of it in travel. In Europe during the Great War; in Paris 1921. Among his books are "The Spell of the Yukon," "Ballads of a Cheerchako," "Rhymes of a Rolling Stone," "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man," and "Ballads of a Bohemian." The Quitter, 8.
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. Born at Stratford on Avon, Apr. 23, 1564; died there Apr. 23, 1616, and buried in Stratford church. Probably attended Stratford Grammar School; married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior, Nov., 1582; a daughter, Susanna, born May 1, 1583; twins, Hamnet and Judith, born 1585. About 1585 went to London, and became connected with the theater as actor, reviser of old plays, etc. His son Hammet died 1596; his father applied for a coat of arms 1596. Bought New Place at Stratford 1597; coat of arms granted 1599; shareholder in Globe theater 1599. His father died 1601; his daughter Susanna married to John Hall, a physician at Stratford, 1607; his mother died 1608. Retired from theatre and returned to Stratford about 1611. His daughter Judith married to Thomas Quinney, a vintner, 1616; his wife died 1623; last descendant, Lady Bernard, died 1670. Folio edition of his plays 1623. Characterized by surpassing ability in both comedy and tragedy, extraordinary insight into human character, and supreme mastery of language. Besides his plays, which are too well known to require listing, he wrote "Sonnets," "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece." A Good Name, 109; Cowards, 194; Good Deeds, 216; Having Done and Doing, 52; Opportunity, 54; Order and the Bees, 75; Painting the Lily, 188; Polonius's Advice to Laertes, 49; Sadness and Merriment, 218; Sleep and the Monarch, 142; Stability, 157; The Belly and the Members, 152; The Life Without Passion, 213.