Edwin Ford Piper (1871-1939), The Land of the Aiouwas: A masque. Iowa City, IA: Midland Press, 1922. Courtesy Internet Archive.
Edwin Ford Piper (February 8, 1871 - May 17, 1939) was an American poet, academic, and collector of folk songs.[1]
Life[]
Piper was born in Auburn, Nebraska, just west of the Missouri River, to Joseph Benson and Lucinda Adeline Ford Piper. While he was growing up, he listened to the songs, rhymes, square dancing calls, and prayer meeting calls of the hired hands, hobos, itinerant fiddlers – anyone who created music. He also learned songs from his mother and his sister Ella. These folk expressions had a great effect upon him.[1]
In 1893 he enrolled at the University of Nebraska , where he earned an A.B. in 1897 and an A.M. in 1900.[1]
In 1905 he joined the University of Iowa, where he taught Chaucer and writing. He served as advisor to The Midland and American Prefaces, and was the chief sponsor of Kinnikinnick.[1]
He published 5 collections of poetry. He was in great demand as a reader, and his habit of breaking into song when the poem demanded it earned him the nickname "the singing professor."[1]
As early as 1897, Piper had begun transcribing ballads and songs remembered from his childhood. In 1909 he began systematically collecting songs, from newspapers and magazines, from older singers, and in exchanges with other scholars.[1] By the time of his death in 1939, he bad preserved 828 folk songs as well as hundreds of riddles, rhymes, play-party games, folk sayings, and quadrille calls.[2]
He remained at the University of Iowa until his death at the age of 68.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Barbed Wire, and other poems. Iowa City, IA: Midland Press, 1919.
- Barbed Wire and Wayfarers. New York: Macmillan, 1924.
- Paintrock Road. New York: Macmillan, 1927.
- Canterbury Pilgrims. Iowa City, IA: Clio Press, 1935.
Play[]
- The Land of the Aiouwas: A masque. Iowa City, IA: Midland Press, 1922.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]
See also[]
References[]
Fonds[]
- The Edwin Ford Piper Collection of Folksongs at the University of Iowa.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Biographical Notes, http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/scua/msc/tomsc100/msc40/msc40.html Edwin Ford Piper Folklore Collection, University of Iowa. Web, July 24, 2015.
- ↑ Harry Oster, The Edwin Piper Collection of Folksongs, Books at Iowa 1 (November 1964), University of Iowa. Web, July 24, 2015.
- ↑ Search results = au:Edwin Ford Piper, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 24, 2015.
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Drought"
- Piper in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "Bindlestiff," "Whoa, Zebe, Whoa," "Sweetgrass Range," "March Wind," "Whispering Often," "Home," "The Line Fence"
- Edwin Ford Piper at AllPoetry (41 poems)
- Books
- Edwin Ford Piper at Amazon.com
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