Edwin Markham
Edwin Markham, born Charles Edward Anson Markham on April 23, 1852, in Oregon City, was an influential American poet known for his advocacy for social justice and the working class. Raised in a challenging home environment, Markham's early life on a California ranch provided him with inspiration for his poetry despite limited educational support. After earning his teaching certificate, he began publishing poems in the 1870s and became involved in spiritualism and utopian socialism, which significantly shaped his literary themes.
Markham is best known for his poem "The Man with the Hoe," published in 1899, which powerfully addressed the plight of laborers and sparked a national conversation about workers' rights. Throughout his career, he held various teaching positions and was appointed poet laureate of Oregon, earning multiple honors, including the Academy of American Poets' Prize. Markham's work was recognized during significant events, such as the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. While his reputation waned after his death in 1940, he remains a notable figure in early twentieth-century American poetry, particularly for his passionate advocacy for social change.
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Subject Terms
Edwin Markham
Poet
- Born: April 23, 1852
- Birthplace: Oregon City, Oregon Territory (now in Oregon)
- Died: March 7, 1940
- Place of death: Staten Island, New York
Biography
Charles Edward Anson Markham was born April 23, 1852, in Oregon City, in the Oregon Territory. He was the sixth and last child of Elizabeth Winchell Markham, who was miserly, jealous and cruel. She had separated from her husband, Samuel Barzillai Markham, before Markham’s birth, and the identity of his biological father is uncertain.
In 1856, Elizabeth Markham and her three youngest children moved to a ranch in Suisun, California, northeast of San Francisco. The youngest Markham, who was then called Charley, worked on the farm and relished the natural beauty of the area. Although his life on the ranch provided inspiration for his poetry, it was an isolated existence, and his mother refused to buy books or to support his education.
At fifteen, Markham ran away for several months. He later described being lured into criminal acts while he was on the road. Only after Markham returned home did his mother allow him to enter Vacaville College in 1868, where he earned his teacher’s certificate in 1870. In September, 1874, after taking courses and teaching at Christian College in Santa Rosa, Markham accepted a teaching post at Coloma, California, a town near the Nevada border. Here he met Annie Cox, whom he married on August 1, 1875.
By the end of the 1870’s Markham had published “Shut the Door Softly” (1872) and “Fatal Love” (1873) in newspapers. In 1876, Markham abandoned his Methodist faith and became a follower of the spiritualist and utopian socialist Thomas Lake Harris. Harris’s doctrine, which espoused social harmony and universal charity, became a major force in Markham’s poetry. After he and Annie moved to Placerville in 1879, he won an election to become county superintendent of schools.
In 1883, Markham began an affair with Dr. Elizabeth Senter, a woman five years his senior who practiced medicine in San Jose and had contracted tuberculosis. Markham was granted a divorce from Annie in 1884. Senter died in 1885. By 1886, Markham had taken up with a second mistress, Caroline Bailey, but public controversy forced Markham to resign his school position. The two married on April 10, 1887, and Markham’s mother moved in with them. As a result, Caroline Markham left her husband, and she died in 1894. Markham then married Anna Catherine Murphy, a teacher, on June 9, 1898, and she became his collaborator and editor. They had one child, Virgil.
During the last week of December, 1898, Markham completed his poem “The Man with the Hoe,” based on the painting by the French artist Jean-François Millet, and this poem changed the course of Markham’s career. “The Man with the Hoe,” published in the San Francisco Examiner on January 15, 1899, was reprinted in newspapers across the United States, and its appeal for better treatment of the working class sparked a national debate.
Markham served as poet laureate of Oregon, and he was awarded the Academy of American Poets’ Prize. He also received honorary degrees from Baylor University, Syracuse University, and New York University. In 1922, Markham was invited to read his poem “Lincoln, the Man of the People” at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial; in 1932, on Markham’s eightieth birthday, he was regaled at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Despite the decline in his reputation after his death in 1940, Markham remains an important figure in American poetry of the early twentieth century.