Category Archives: Arts and letters

Octavia Roberts (Corneau)

Octavia Roberts (1875-1972), was a Springfield-born journalist and writer. Her best-known work today is Lincoln in Illinois, a brief (160-page) reflection on Abraham Lincoln in New Salem and Springfield that was published in 1918. Roberts was for a time the … Continue reading

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Vachel Lindsay

Hear Vachel Lindsay declaim A Dirge for a Righteous Kitten, 1931 (Pennsound) Sangamon County has produced its share of poets, but taken together they do not rival Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) for celebrity, achievement, and tragedy. The novelist Mark Harris summarized … Continue reading

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Robert S. Fitzgerald: Poet, translator

 Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (1910-1985) was an educator, poet, journalist, translator, editor and author who lived in Springfield for 20 years in his youth. While Fitzgerald was a student at Springfield High School, his talent for poetry came to the attention … Continue reading

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