How clearly I can still remember being able to recite Little Orphant Annie, by James Whitcomb Riley, when I was just a wee sprite of 5. My mom just thought that was the cat’s meow and whenever she had a friend over, she’d trot me out and have me say the first verse. She must have liked this poem, because I could recite other ones, like Robert Louis Stevenson’s, My Shadow, but it was always Orphant Annie (until I was older and she found out I knew the words to Dominique!).

Before he became the beloved “Children’s Poet,” James Whitcomb Riley perpetrated a hoax that cost him his job. He wrote a poem entitled Leonanie, in the style of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, Ulalume. Riley believed that the poem mattered little if one already had an established reputation. He enlisted the help of his friend, John Henderson, the editor of the Kokomo Dispatch. Henderson fabricated a tale on how the poem came to be found and Leonainie was published on August 3, 1877, almost 28 years after Mr. Poe had left this vale of tears.

Upon exposure, a suitable period of disgrace ensued, then forgiveness, then acceptance. James Whitcomb Riley made a very respectable living from writing and public appearances. Remarkably, or perhaps typically, some people continued to believe that the poem had been written by Poe.

Here is another poem I like by James Whitcomb Riley:

FAITH

The sea was breaking at my feet,
And looking out across the tide,
Where placid waves and heaven meet,
I thought me of the Other Side.

For on the beach on which I stood
Were wastes of sands, and wash, and roar,
Low clouds, and gloom, and solitude,
And wrecks, and ruins — nothing more. ”

O, tell me if beyond the sea
A heavenly port there is !” I cried,
And back the echoes laughingly ”
There is ! there is !” replied.

More Resources:
Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in 10 Volumes (Google Books)
Leonainie - Museum of Hoaxes
James Whitcomb Riley Recordings - 17 recordings by the poet - Indiana Marion County Public Library

Tags: audio, poe, riley