Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2795musician;.a master of literature, as well as the greatest poet of the South;burdened through life with a feeble body and constant ill health, whichfinally cut him off in the flower of his days his was indeed a master mind.There is perhaps no one who would dispute his supremacy as the premier poetof the South, and he ranks in our country now with Longfellow, "Whittier,and Lowell. The London Times the most conservative paper in the world,.and which through all its history has been noted for its editorial abilityand the quality of its criticisms adjudges Lanier to have been '' the greatestmaster of melody of any of the American poets." ^Sidney Lanier was born in Macon, Georgia, oil February 3, 1842; son ofII Robert S. and Mary (Anderson) Lanier. His father was a lawyer, of Huguenot descent. His mother's people were of Scotch origin. He was graduatedfrom the sophomore class of Oglethorpe College in 1860; was a tutor in Oglethorpefor the next year, and in April, 1861, enlisted in the Second GeorgiaBattalion. He served through the campaign of 1862 in Virginia; and in1863 his battalion was mounted and saw service in North Carolina and Virginia. In 1864, he took command of a blockade runner, and while in thatservice was captured and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland. He wasreleased in February, 1865. He was a clerk in Montgomery, Alabama,- 1865-7; and was married in December, 1867,' to Mary Day, daughter of CharlesDay^ of Macon, Georgia.The year 1868 found him teaching a country academy at Prattsville, Alabama }, but in May of that year, disabled by a hemorrhage of the lungs, hereturned to Macon. He took up the practice of law with his father andstayed in Macon until December, 1872, when he went to San Antonio, Texas,hoping to be benefited by the climate. He found ho benefit, and in the springof 1873 he settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was a flutist for the PeabodySymphony Concerts. He was a devoted lover of music and proficient onthe banjo, the guitar, the piano, the violin, and the flute. From time to timehe was a contributor of poems and articles to magazines, and a constant traveler in search of health, which was always denied him. In May, 1874, hevisited Florida, under a contract with a railroad company interested in thedevelopment of that state, to write them a book on Florida. The little bookwhich was the product of this visit, entitled "Florida: Its Scenery, Climate,and History," was brought out in 1875, and is one of the most delightfulvolumes ever written about any American state. At the suggestion of BayardTaylor, he wrote the cantata for the opening of the Centennial Exposition--, in 1876, Dudley Buck writing the music. A brief course of lectures given byyhim upon "Elizabethan Verse," followed by a Shakespearean course, led to"his appointment in 1879 as lecturer on English Literature in Johns HopkinsUniversity. At the same time he conducted three lecture courses in youngladies' classes. He was forced finally from illness to discontinue his lecturecourse, and in April, 1881, he made his last visit to New York to arrange forthe publications of his books. "While there he was taken so seriously ill thatthey were compelled to take him to a camp in Western North Carolina, wherehe died on September 7, 1881, aged thirty-nine years and seven months.Reference has been made to the vast range of Lanier's knowledge. He. was a poet and musician of the highest order of ability. As a linguist he hadmastered French, German, and Spanish. He could easily have been a professor of mathematics, so profound was his knowledge of that science a mostunusual thing in a man of poetic ability. Added to all this, he was an accomplished lawyer. Four years of his brief life were spent in the service of hiscountry. And yet, in his brief thirty-nine years he accomplished so muchthat his reputation has grown steadily year by year, until today it isworldwide. In 1888 a beautiful memorial bust of the poet was unveiled inBaltimore.His published works include: "Tiger Lilies;" "Florida: Its Scenery,