Donald Culross Peattie

Few lives have left so vivid an impression upon a native environment asthat of James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier Poet. His folksy, down-home rhymes arestill enormously popular in his native state and beyond. This publication bringsback into print the complete Riley repertoire of more than 1,000 poems, includingsuch all-time favorites as "Little Orphant Annie" (far and away thebest-loved of all Riley characters), "The Raggedy Man," "Our HiredGirl," "A Barefoot Boy," "The Bumblebee,""Granny," and "When the Frost Is on the Punkin." It issaid that Indiana's best-known poet did not portray but invented the typicalHoosier. Applying imaginative skill, Riley altered and adapted the people around himto suit his purpose. As Jeannette Covert Nolan once put it, the figure who emergedwas "a mellow, humorous rustic, a quaint, bucolic philosopher, unlettered butgifted with an earthy shrewdness, a peasant wisdom, a heart of gold, speaking adrawling, hybrid tongue, a dubious dialect as yet unidentified by anyphilologist." In his heyday Riley was famous all over the world. Though often called a children's poet, he actually wrote about children for adults, delighting in emotional reminders of an irretrievable past -- perhaps one that neverquite existed. Throughout his life Riley looked back wistfully and sentimentallyupon his childhood days, turning the longings and unfulfilled dreams of youth intoverse. So celebrated was he in Indiana that in many public elementary schools, students were required to memorize and recite one of his poems every week foradmiring audiences of visiting parents. If I Knew What PoetsKnowIf I knew what poets know, Did I know what poets do, If I knew whatpoets know, Would I write a rhyme Would I sing a song, I would find athemeOf the buds that never blow Sadder than the pigeon's coo Sweeter thanthe placid flow In the summer-time? When the days are long? Of the fairestdream: Would I sing of golden seeds Where I found a heart in pain, I wouldsing of love that livesSpringing up in ironweeds? I would make it gladagain; On the errors it forgives: And of rain-drop turned to snow, And thefalse should be the true, And the world would better growIf I knew whatpoets know? Did I know what poets do. If I knew what poets know. -- JamesWhitcomb Riley

""The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley"" is a collection of poems written by the American poet James Whitcomb Riley. The book includes all of Riley's published poetry, including his most famous works such as ""Little Orphant Annie"" and ""The Raggedy Man"". The poems are written in a dialect that reflects the rural Midwestern culture of Riley's childhood, and often celebrate the joys and struggles of everyday life. The book is a testament to Riley's skill as a poet, and to his ability to capture the spirit of his time and place. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in American poetry, and a must-read for fans of James Whitcomb Riley. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

"Even a diehard urbanite would likely be seduced by this extraordinary chronicle of the plant kingdom . . . " —Publishers Weekly " . . . much more than the fascinating story of plant life . . . It is also a book about the resilience of life itself, the mystery and power of the unseen energy appearing in the visible world in a marvelous variety of forms." —Audubon Naturalist News "Here is Mr. Peattie at his superb best. . . . [H]e makes the story of botany and its pursuit as fascinating to the reader as it is to him, and the reading of it a delight." —Hartford Times "[Peattie] belongs with Gilbert White, Thoreau, John Burroughs, W. H. Hudson, Richard Jeffries, and John Muir." —Mark van Doren First published in 1939, this beautifully imaginative book is about botany much in the same sense that Walden is about a pond. Part natural history, part biography, and part philosophical reflection, Flowering Earth is written in a warm, lyrical style that made poet-scientist Donald Culross Peattie one of America's best-known naturalist writers.