James whitcomb riley biography samples

Biographical Sketch by Wendi Capehart

James Whitcomb Riley is known as "The Hoosier Poet," because he is from the state of Indiana, and Indiana is the Hoosier State.

Nobody knows for sure what Hoosier meant, although there are many guesses.

James whitcomb riley biography samples

One is that in the frontier days, it was customary to stand outside the door of a cabin and shout "Who's here?" There's an Indiana accent or dialect that isn't quite southern but isn't northern either, and "who's here" does sound a little bit like "hoosier." But there are at least half a dozen other guesses, and none has more support than another.

Whether that is the source of Hoosier or not, Riley certainly popularized this dialect in many of his regional poems.

Dialect poetry is poetry that attempts to reproduce a specific accent or regional style of speech. It can be very difficult to read if you are not familiar with how the dialect sounds in real life.

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