Richard Watson Gilder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Watson_Gilder

Richard Watson Gilder (February 8, 1844 – November 19, 1909) was an American poet and editor.

Life and career

Gilder was born at Bordentown, New Jersey. He was the son of the Rev. William Henry Gilder, at whose seminary in Flushing, Queens, he was educated. He was the brother of William Henry Gilder, Jeannette Leonard Gilder and Joseph Benson Gilder. Gilder studied law at Philadelphia.

During the American Civil War, he enlisted in the state's Emergency Volunteer Militia as a private in Landis's Philadelphia Battery at the time of the Robert E. Lee's 1863 invasion of Pennsylvania. After the Confederates were defeated in the Battle of Gettysburg, Gilder and his unit were mustered out in August.

With Newton Crane, he founded the Newark Register and later was editor of Hours at Home and edited Scribner's Monthly (afterward The Century Magazine); his assistant editor at Century was Sophia Bledsoe Herrick. In 1881 he succeeded Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland as editor in chief of Century, a position he held up to the time of his death. Gilder took an active interest in all public affairs, especially those which tend towards reform and good government, and was a member of many New York clubs. He was one of the founders of the Society of American Architects, of the Authors' Club, and of the International Copyright League. He was a founder of the Anti-Spoils League and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a close friend of George MacDonald, Scottish poet, author, and preacher. They collaborated in various ventures such as MacDonald's American lecture tour in the '70s. Gilder received the degree of LL.D. from Dickinson College in 1883.

Gilder's wife, Helena de Kay (1846–1916), was a talented painter and a founder of the Art Students League and Society of American Artists. She also modeled for, and was an unrequited love of, the painter Winslow Homer. Their son, Rodman de Kay Gilder (1877–1953), became an author and married Comfort Tiffany, a daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. A celebrated plaster sculpture of the family by Augustus Saint-Gaudens is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Gilder and de Kay were the models for the characters Thomas and Augusta Hudson in Wallace Stegner's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, "Angle of Repose."

Selected works

The New Day (1875)

The Celestial Passion(1887)

The Great Remembrance

Five Books of Song (1894)

In Palestine, and Other Poems (1898)

Poems and Inscriptions (1901)

In the Heights (1905)

A Book of Music (1906)

Richard wasn't a major poet by today's standards- he, however, built the Century magazine into the top-selling magazine of his day. He was liked and trusted by everyone. Twain and Cleveland considered him a confidante. What becomes apparent as one digs deeper into his life, is his mischievous nature and his sense of fun.

RICHARD'S BOOKS OF POETRY

The New Day (1875) The Poet and His Master and Other Poems (1878) Lyrics and Other Poems (1885) The Celestial Passion (1887) Two Worlds and Other Poems (1891) Five Books of Song (1894) For the Country (1897) In Palestine and Other Poems (1898) Poems and Inscriptions (1901) A Christmas Wreath (1903) In the Heights (1905) The Fire Divine (1907) The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder (1908)

RICHARD'S OTHER WORKS

A Book of Music (1906) Lincoln the Leader (1909) Grover Cleveland: A Record of Friendship (1910) Letters of Richard Watson Gilder (1916)