Let Socialists make the laws today and they would break them tomorrow. Bierce’s long-running feud with Jack London, an ardent socialist, was ended only by a mutual admiration for alcoholic spirits.
This dualism he maintained even in the metropolis, where he found it possible, aside from his school duties, to speak at socialistic gatherings on the one hand, and polish his well-turned, delicate verses on the other.īierce, of course, had no patience with so-called socialistic notions, although what was considered as socialism then is commonly accepted in America today as the byproduct of a humane, progressive society: Social Security, for example, or Medicare, even food stamps. Jesse Sidney Goldstein, in an essay published in Modern Language Notes in 1943, put it this way:Īrtistically, he was ultra-conservative intellectually, he was a firebrand. But inside Markham’s chest beat the heart of a man with a profound social conscience. W hat happened that led such mutual admiration to crumble? Bierce would be described today as a libertarian, the struggles of the poor of little interest to him. Shadows of shadows pass, and many a lightīarges depart whose voiceless steersmen keep Strange wares are handled on the wharves of sleep: Bierce one of the most gentle and delightful of men.a philosopher with a childlike and winged spirit and heart.a man judicious and fearless, who is clearing the air like a thunderbolt.”īierce also admired Markham, particularly his poem, “The Wharf of Dreams.” Bierce’s first major biographer, Carey McWilliams, said the poem was Bierce’s favorite sonnet: After he at last met his hero, Markham gushed, “I found Mr. All along, Markham had been writing poetry, publishing his first in 1880, and was encouraged by Bierce who saw himself as the arbiter of all things literary in California.įrom the beginning, Markham was in awe of Bierce, saying of the older writer: “His is a composite mind - a blending of Hafiz the Persian, Swift, Poe, Thoreau, with sometimes the gleam of the Galilean.” Markham clipped Bierce’s columns from the newspaper, pasting them into a scrapbook. Markham, born in Oregon in 1852 - ten years after Bierce’s own birth - had become a school teacher and administrator in Oakland, California, and was part of a Western artistic circle that included Bierce, Hamlin Garland, George Sterling, Joaquin Miller, Jack London, and others. How this happened is set forth below, but, first, the events leading up to the contretemps. T he Markham poem that set Bierce off was “The Man with the Hoe,” originally published by the San Francisco Examiner, Bierce’s own newspaper. It is certain that, in his lifetime, Edwin Markham never thought about zombies, yet a fanciful re-reading of some of his poetry might lead to the conclusion that Markham had anticipated the zombie craze, which has infiltrated the popular culture, (some examples below), while Bierce’s own legacy as a writer of horror and the supernatural remains lofty to this day. Schools throughout the nation, five in California alone, were named after Markham. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1932, Markham was venerated by President Herbert Hoover along with visitors from thirty-five foreign countries. At the peak of his fame, Markham read his celebrated poem, “Lincoln a Man of the People,” during the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1922. Markham’s poetic achievements are now mostly overlooked, but in his day he was widely praised, his four books of poetry republished over many editions. Markham forgave more easily than Bierce.īierce never denied Markham’s accomplishments as a poet, but in terms of politics and philosophy, the two men were far apart, and Markham committed the unforgiveable sin of writing a poem the sentiments of which Bierce profoundly, no, rabidly, disapproved. So it happened with the California poet Edwin Markham - although the breach between the two was more or less repaired later in their lives. A word, a comment, a misplaced idea - even by old friends - could lead Bierce to angrily sever a relationship.
#Biography of edwin markham skin#
I t never took much to get under the skin of Ambrose Bierce.
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