Edwin Markham Poems

Edwin Markham was an American poet and the Poet Laureate of Oregon from 1923 to 1931. His poetry was popular during his lifetime and often touched on spiritual topics and expressed a belief in progressive social and political positions. Several schools in Oregon are named after him today. 

Lincoln, Man of the People

by Edwin Markham

‘Lincoln, Man of the People’ by Edwin Markham is a unique poem about Abraham Lincoln that paints him, and his legacy, in idealized, universal terms. The speaker spends the poem describing Lincoln the perfect leader.

This is one of Edwin Markham's better-known poems. Today, he is commonly remembered for this piece and 'The Man with the Hoe.'

When the Norn Mother saw the Whirlwind Hour

Greatening and darkening as it hurried on,

She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down

To make a man to meet the mortal need.

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