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153-479: James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the " Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His poems tend to be humorous or sentimental. Of the approximately 1,000 poems Riley wrote, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include " Little Orphant Annie " and " The Raggedy Man ". Riley began his career writing verses as

306-453: A dialect of a language defined in this way. In these terms, Danish and Norwegian , though mutually intelligible to a large degree, are considered separate languages. In the framework of Heinz Kloss , these are described as languages by ausbau (development) rather than by abstand (separation). In other situations, a closely related group of varieties possess considerable (though incomplete) mutual intelligibility, but none dominates

459-508: A dialect cluster is defined as a central variety together with a collection of varieties whose speakers can understand the central variety at a specified threshold level (usually between 70% and 85%) or higher. It is not required that peripheral varieties be understood by speakers of the central variety or of other peripheral varieties. A minimal set of central varieties providing coverage of a dialect continuum may be selected algorithmically from intelligibility data. In many societies, however,

612-461: A dialect continuum . The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity . A dialect associated with a particular social class is called a sociolect ; one associated with a particular ethnic group is an ethnolect ; and a geographical or regional dialect is a regiolect (alternative terms include 'regionalect', 'geolect', and 'topolect' ). Any variety of

765-513: A "dialect", as it is the dominant language in a particular state, be it in terms of linguistic prestige , social or political (e.g. official ) status, predominance or prevalence, or all of the above. The term "dialect" used this way implies a political connotation, being mostly used to refer to low-prestige languages (regardless of their actual degree of distance from the national language), languages lacking institutional support, or those perceived as "unsuitable for writing". The designation "dialect"

918-644: A Sicilian-speaking person would have a greater degree of mutual intelligibility with a speaker of the more closely related Neapolitan language, but far less mutual intelligibility with a person speaking Sicilian Gallo-Italic, a language that developed in isolated Lombard emigrant communities on the same island as the Sicilian language. Today, the majority of Italian nationals are able to speak Italian, though many Italians still speak their regional language regularly or as their primary day-to-day language, especially at home with family or when communicating with Italians from

1071-465: A Yiddish speaker would consult a Yiddish dictionary rather than a German dictionary in such a case, and is classified as its own language. Within this framework, W. A. Stewart defined a language as an autonomous variety in addition to all the varieties that are heteronomous with respect to it, noting that an essentially equivalent definition had been stated by Charles A. Ferguson and John J. Gumperz in 1960. A heteronomous variety may be considered

1224-517: A book, Nye and Riley's Railway Guide , a collection of humorous anecdotes and poems intended to parody popular tourist literature of the day. Published in 1888, the book was somewhat successful and had three reprints. In October 1887, Riley and the association joined with other writers to petition the United States Congress to attempt to negotiate international treaties to protect American copyrights abroad. The group became known as

1377-585: A brief performance for the dignitaries at the event before speaking about the need for international copyright protections. Cleveland was enamored by Riley's performance and invited him back for a private meeting during which the two men discussed cultural topics. In the 1888 Presidential Election campaign , Riley's acquaintance Benjamin Harrison was nominated as the Republican candidate. Although Riley had shunned politics for most of his life, he gave Harrison

1530-456: A central variety together with all those varieties whose speakers understand the central variety at a specified threshold level or higher. If the threshold level is high, usually between 70% and 85%, the cluster is designated as a language . Another occasionally used criterion for discriminating dialects from languages is the sociolinguistic notion of linguistic authority . According to this definition, two varieties are considered dialects of

1683-505: A close friendship with Eugene V. Debs . He enjoyed Riley's works and often complimented his sentiments. Riley had used the pseudonym "Jay Whit" since he began writing poetry but finally began to use his own name in April 1881. Riley renewed his relationship with Bottsford in 1880, and the two corresponded frequently. Their relationship remained unstable, but Riley became deeply attached to her. She inspired his poem "The Werewife", which told of

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1836-418: A close friendship. Developing and maintaining publicity became a constant job requiring more of his attention as his fame grew. Keeping his alcohol addiction secret, maintaining the persona of a simple rural poet and a friendly common person became most important. Riley identified these traits as the basis of his popularity during the mid-1880s and wrote of his need to maintain a fictional persona. He encouraged

1989-533: A distinct language from Arabic and not merely a dialect thereof. During the civil war , Christians often used Lebanese Arabic officially, and sporadically used the Latin script to write Lebanese, thus further distinguishing it from Arabic. All Lebanese laws are written in the standard literary form of Arabic, though parliamentary debate may be conducted in Lebanese Arabic. In Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco,

2142-467: A few of his dialect poems and consisted mostly of sonnets . The book reprinted many poems Riley had already published but included some new ones he wrote specifically for the book, including "The Days Gone By", "The Little White Hearse", and "The Serenade". The book was Riley's favorite because it included his finest works and was published by the prestigious Longmans, Green Publishers with high quality printing and binding. In late 1888 he finished work on

2295-461: A final break. He blamed his mother's death on his father's failure to care for her in her final weeks. He continued to regret the loss of his childhood home. He wrote frequently of how it was so cruelly snatched from him by the war, subsequent poverty and his mother's death. After the events of 1870, he developed an addiction to alcohol and struggled with it for the rest of his life. Becoming increasingly belligerent toward his father, Riley moved out of

2448-546: A fourth book, Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury which was released to great acclaim in the United States. Based on a fictional town in Indiana, Riley presented many stories and poems about its citizens and way of life. It received mixed reviews from literary critics who wrote of it that Riley's stories were not of the same quality as his poetry. The book was very popular with the public and went through numerous reprints. Riley

2601-504: A full-time writer. In February, he submitted a poem titled "At Last" to a Connecticut newspaper the Danbury News . The editors accepted it, paid him for it, and wrote him a letter encouraging him to submit more. Riley found the note and his first payment inspiring. He began submitting poems regularly to the editors, but after the newspaper shut down in 1875, Riley was left without a paying publisher. He began traveling and performing with

2754-402: A given language can be classified as "a dialect", including any standardized varieties . In this case, the distinction between the "standard language" (i.e. the "standard" dialect of a particular language) and the " nonstandard " (vernacular) dialects of the same language is often arbitrary and based on social, political, cultural, or historical considerations or prevalence and prominence. In

2907-556: A given language can be classified as a "dialect", including standardized ones . A second usage, which refers to colloquial settings, typically diglossic , in a few countries like Italy , such as dialetto , patois in France , much of East Central Europe, and the Philippines , may carry a pejorative undertone and underlines the politically and socially subordinated status of an autochthonous non-national language to

3060-670: A history professor at Fisk University , argued for a connection to the Methodist minister Rev . Harry Hosier ( c.  1750 –May 1806), who evangelized the American frontier at the beginning of the 19th century as part of the Second Great Awakening . "Black Harry" had been born a slave in North Carolina and sold north to Baltimore , Maryland , before gaining his freedom and beginning his ministry around

3213-561: A job offer and to create a market for his poetry, he began sending poems to dozens of newspapers touting Longfellow's endorsement. Among the newspapers to take an interest in his poems was the Indianapolis Journal , a major Republican Party metropolitan newspaper in Indiana. Among the first poems it purchased from him were "Song of the New Year", "An Empty Nest", and a short story entitled "A Remarkable Man". The editors of

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3366-415: A language with a writing system will operate at different degrees of distance from the standardized written form. Some dialects of a language are not mutually intelligible in spoken form, leading to debate as to whether they are regiolects or separate languages. A standard dialect , also known as a "standardized language", is supported by institutions. Such institutional support may include any or all of

3519-408: A local temperance organization but quit after a few weeks. Without a steady income, his financial situation worsened. Riley began submitting his poems to more prominent literary magazines, including Scribner's Monthly , but was informed that although it showed promise, his work was still short of the standards required for use in their publications. Locally, he was still dealing with the stigma of

3672-506: A local reputation for his entertaining readings. In August 1878, he followed Indiana Governor James D. Williams as speaker at a civic event in a small town near Indianapolis. He recited a recently composed poem, "A Childhood Home of Long Ago", telling of life in pioneer Indiana. The poem was well received and was given good reviews by several newspapers. Flying Islands of the Night is the only play Riley wrote and published. Written while he

3825-466: A matter of dispute. Macedonian , which is largely mutually intelligible with Bulgarian and certain dialects of Serbo-Croatian ( Torlakian ), is considered by Bulgarian linguists to be a Bulgarian dialect, while in North Macedonia , it is regarded as a language in its own right. Before the establishment of a literary standard of Macedonian in 1944, in most sources in and out of Bulgaria before

3978-416: A meeting. Their brief meeting was one of Riley's fondest memories, and he wrote a lengthy article about it after Longfellow's death only a month later. Longfellow encouraged Riley to focus on poetry and gave him advice for his upcoming performance where Riley was well received. His poems were greeted with laughter and praised in the city's newspaper reviews. Boston was the literary center of the United States at

4131-515: A newspaper titled The Hoosier . In 1900, Meredith Nicholson wrote The Hoosiers , an early attempt to study the etymology of the word as applied to Indiana residents. Jacob Piatt Dunn , longtime secretary of the Indiana Historical Society , published The Word Hoosier , a similar attempt, in 1907. Both chronicled some of the popular and satirical etymologies circulating at the time and focused much of their attention on

4284-787: A number of different families follow the last two major groups: the Gallo-Romance languages ( French , Occitan and its Vivaro-Alpine dialect , Franco-Provençal ); the Rhaeto-Romance languages ( Friulian and Ladin ); the Ibero-Romance languages ( Sardinia 's Algherese ); the Germanic Cimbrian , Southern Bavarian , Walser German and the Mòcheno language ; the Albanian Arbëresh language ;

4437-478: A particular dialect, often the sociolect of the elite class, comes to be identified as the "standard" or "proper" version of a language by those seeking to make a social distinction and is contrasted with other varieties. As a result of this, in some contexts, the term "dialect" refers specifically to varieties with low social status . In this secondary sense of "dialect", language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages : The status of "language"

4590-596: A perfect wife who could suddenly become a demonic monster. Bottsford pressed Riley for marriage several times, but he refused. They broke off their relationship a second time in 1881 when she discovered his correspondence with two other women, and found he had taken a secret vacation to Wisconsin with one of them. Riley's alcoholism influenced some of his poems during his time working for the Journal . These included "On Quitting California", "John Golliher's Third Womern", [sic] and "The Dismal Fate of Tit", which each refer to

4743-504: A personal endorsement and participated in fund-raising events and vote stumping. The election was exceptionally partisan in Indiana, and Riley found the atmosphere of the campaign stressful; he vowed never to become involved with politics again. Hoosier "Hoosier" is used in the names of numerous Indiana-based businesses and organizations. "Hoosiers" is also the name of the Indiana University athletic teams . As there

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4896-452: A poet, Riley achieved an uncommon level of fame during his lifetime. He was honored with annual Riley Day celebrations around the United States and was regularly called on to perform readings at national civic events. He continued to write and hold occasional poetry readings until a stroke paralyzed his right arm in 1910. Riley's chief legacy was his influence in fostering the creation of a Midwestern cultural identity and his contributions to

5049-438: A result. However, once he extricated himself from a series of poorly negotiated contracts that sought to limit his earnings, he began to accumulate wealth and eventually became a financial success. By the 1890s, Riley had become known as a bestselling author. His children's poems were compiled into a book illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy . Titled Rhymes of Childhood , it was his most popular and sold millions of copies. As

5202-456: A second printing before the end of the year. During this period Riley determined that his most popular poems were those on topics of rural life, and he began to use that as a common theme throughout his future work. The income from his book allowed Riley to ease his busy work schedule; he submitted articles to the Journal less often and made fewer lecture stops. He wrote fewer poems but their quality improved; he wrote his most famous poems during

5355-438: A separate and parallel way and may thus better fit various parties' criteria for a separate language. Despite this, these "dialects" may often be historically cognate and share genetic roots in the same subfamily as the dominant national language and may even, to a varying degree, share some mutual intelligibility with the latter. In this sense, unlike in the first usage, the national language would not itself be considered

5508-430: A sequence of varieties, where each mutually intelligible with the next, but may not be mutually intelligible with distant varieties. Others have argued that mutual intelligibility occurs in varying degrees, and the potential difficulty in distinguishing between intelligibility and prior familiarity with the other variety. However, recent research suggests that there is some empirical evidence in favor of using some form of

5661-423: A show at Chickering Hall with Edgar Nye, Samuel Clemens, and several others. Riley was introduced by James Russell Lowell before his performance, and Lowell gave Riley a glowing endorsement to the crowd. His poetry brought both tears and laughter according to The New York Sun . Critic Edmund Clarence Stedman , one of the foremost literary critics of the era, was present and wrote that Riley's dialect poems were

5814-604: A sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's endorsement, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the late 1870s. He gradually rose to prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest , and then nationally, appearing either alone or with other famous talents. During this period Riley's long-term addiction to alcohol began to affect his performing abilities, and he suffered financially as

5967-399: A similar way, the definitions of the terms "language" and "dialect" may overlap and are often subject to debate, with the differentiation between the two classifications often grounded in arbitrary or sociopolitical motives, and the term "dialect" is sometimes restricted to mean "non-standard variety", particularly in non-specialist settings and non-English linguistic traditions. The term

6120-441: A similar way, the definitions of the terms "language" and "dialect" may overlap and are often subject to debate, with the differentiation between the two classifications often grounded in arbitrary or sociopolitical motives. The term "dialect" is however sometimes restricted to mean "non-standard variety", particularly in non-specialist settings and non-English linguistic traditions. Conversely, some dialectologists have reserved

6273-582: A socio-cultural approach, is possible. This is illustrated by the frequency with which the army-navy aphorism is cited. By the definition most commonly used by linguists, any linguistic variety can be considered a "dialect" of some language—"everybody speaks a dialect". According to that interpretation, the criteria above merely serve to distinguish whether two varieties are dialects of the same language or dialects of different languages. The terms "language" and "dialect" are not necessarily mutually exclusive, although they are often perceived to be. Thus there

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6426-649: A speaker of purely Eastern Lombard , a language in Northern Italy 's Lombardy region that includes the Bergamasque dialect , would have severely limited mutual intelligibility with a purely Italian speaker and would be nearly completely unintelligible to a Sicilian -speaking individual. Due to Eastern Lombard's status as a Gallo-Italic language, an Eastern Lombard speaker may, in fact, have more mutual intelligibility with an Occitan, Catalan , or French speaker than with an Italian or Sicilian speaker. Meanwhile,

6579-429: A tavern in the foothills of southern Indiana. One was cut and a third Frenchman walked in to see an ear on the dirt floor of the tavern, prompting him to slur out "Whosh ear?" Two related stories trace the origin of the term to gangs of workers from Indiana under the direction of a Mr. Hoosier. The account related by Dunn is that a Louisville contractor named Samuel Hoosier preferred to hire workers from communities on

6732-460: A true literary figure until one of the prestigious periodicals published his work. Riley undertook occasional reading tours around Indiana, and in August 1880 he was invited to perform at Asbury University . His performance there so impressed the local Phi Kappa Psi chapter, he was invited to join as an honorary member. Through the fraternity he met Robert Jones Burdette , a writer and minister in

6885-539: A variant spelling of his name (possibly influenced by the "yokel" slang ) during the decades after his ministry. According to Washington County newspaper reports of the time, Abraham Stover was Colonel of the Indiana Militia. He was a colorful figure in early Washington County history. Along with his son-in-law, John B. Brough, he was considered one of the two strongest men in Washington County. He

7038-620: Is a variety of languages spoken by a particular group of people. It can also refer to a language subordinate in status to a dominant language, and is sometimes used to mean a vernacular language. The more common usage of the term in English refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The dialects or varieties of a particular language are closely related and, despite their differences, are most often largely mutually intelligible , especially if geographically close to one another in

7191-503: Is also used popularly to refer to the unwritten or non-codified languages of developing countries or isolated areas, where the term " vernacular language " would be preferred by linguists. John Lyons writes that "Many linguists [...] subsume differences of accent under differences of dialect." In general, accent refers to variations in pronunciation, while dialect also encompasses specific variations in grammar and vocabulary . There are three geographical zones in which Arabic

7344-504: Is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class or ethnicity . A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect . A dialect that is associated with a particular ethnic group can be termed an ethnolect . A geographical/regional dialect may be termed a regiolect (alternative terms include 'regionalect', 'geolect', and 'topolect' ). According to this definition, any variety of

7497-542: Is heavily based on the Florentine dialect of Tuscan . The Tuscan-based language that would eventually become modern Italian had been used in poetry and literature since at least the 12th century , and it first spread outside the Tuscan linguistic borders through the works of the so-called tre corone ("three crowns"): Dante Alighieri , Petrarch , and Giovanni Boccaccio . Florentine thus gradually rose to prominence as

7650-486: Is most prevalent. Italy is in fact home to a vast array of separate languages , most of which lack mutual intelligibility with one another and have their own local varieties; twelve of them ( Albanian , Catalan , German , Greek , Slovene , Croatian , French , Franco-Provençal , Friulian , Ladin , Occitan and Sardinian ) underwent Italianization to a varying degree (ranging from the currently endangered state displayed by Sardinian and southern Italian Greek to

7803-536: Is no accepted embodiment of a Hoosier, the IU schools are represented through their letters and colors alone. The term is universally accepted by residents of Indiana and, as of 2017, is also the official demonym used by the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), making it the only GPO-recommended demonym of any US state that is not directly formed from the state's name. Before 2017, the GPO-recommended demonym for

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7956-613: Is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development. Romansh came to be a written language, and therefore it is recognized as a language, even though it is very close to the Lombardic alpine dialects and classical Latin. An opposite example is Chinese , whose variations such as Mandarin and Cantonese are often called dialects and not languages in China, despite their mutual unintelligibility. National boundaries sometimes make

8109-778: Is nothing contradictory in the statement "the language of the Pennsylvania Dutch is a dialect of German ". There are various terms that linguists may use to avoid taking a position on whether the speech of a community is an independent language in its own right or a dialect of another language. Perhaps the most common is " variety "; " lect " is another. A more general term is " languoid ", which does not distinguish between dialects, languages, and groups of languages, whether genealogically related or not. The colloquial meaning of dialect can be understood by example, e.g. in Italy (see dialetto ), France (see patois ) and

8262-454: Is often considered to be purely linguistic, is that of mutual intelligibility : two varieties are said to be dialects of the same language if being a speaker of one variety has sufficient knowledge to understand and be understood by a speaker of the other dialect; otherwise, they are said to be different languages. However, this definition has often been criticized, especially in the case of a dialect continuum (or dialect chain), which contains

8415-405: Is only used for the traditional regional varieties. That allows them to be distinguished from the regional varieties of modern standard German. The German dialects show a wide spectrum of variation. Some of them are not mutually intelligible. German dialectology traditionally names the major dialect groups after Germanic tribes from which they were assumed to have descended. The extent to which

8568-518: Is said to be autonomous. In contrast, speakers in the Netherlands of Low Saxon varieties similar to Westphalian would instead consult a dictionary of Standard Dutch , and hence is categorized as a dialect of Dutch instead. Similarly, although Yiddish is classified by linguists as a language in the High German group of languages and has some degree of mutual intelligibility with German,

8721-641: Is spoken (Jastrow 2002). Zone I is categorized as the area in which Arabic was spoken before the rise of Islam. It is the Arabian Peninsula, excluding the areas where southern Arabian was spoken. Zone II is categorized as the areas to which Arabic speaking peoples moved as a result of the conquests of Islam. Included in Zone II are the Levant , Egypt , North Africa , Iraq , and some parts of Iran . The Egyptian, Sudanese, and Levantine dialects (including

8874-496: Is supported by the Académie Française institution. A nonstandard dialect also has a complete grammar and vocabulary, but is usually not the beneficiary of institutional support. The distinction between the "standard" dialect and the " nonstandard " (vernacular) dialects of the same language is often arbitrary and based on social, political, cultural, or historical considerations or prevalence and prominence. In

9027-703: The Anderson Democrat discovered Riley's poems in the Indianapolis Journal and offered him a job as a reporter in February 1877. Riley accepted. He worked gathering local news, writing articles, and assisting with typesetting. He continued to write poems regularly for the newspaper and to sell other poems to larger newspapers. During the year, Riley spent working in Anderson , he met and courted Edora Mysers. The couple became engaged, but ended

9180-587: The Centro-Southern and Centro-Northern dialects. Though mostly mutually unintelligible, the exact degree to which all the Italian languages are mutually unintelligible varies, often correlating with geographical distance or geographical barriers between the languages; some regional Italian languages that are closer in geographical proximity to each other or closer to each other on the dialect continuum are more or less mutually intelligible. For instance,

9333-582: The Cumberland River , and the Cumberland Gap . Nicholson defended the people of Indiana against such an association, while Dunn concluded that the early settlers had adopted the nickname self-mockingly and that it had lost its negative associations by the time of Finley's poem. Johnathan Clark Smith subsequently showed that Nicholson and Dunn's earliest sources within Indiana were mistaken. A letter by James Curtis cited by Dunn and others as

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9486-572: The Darijas translated as literally meaning Dialect in Arabic (spoken North African languages) are sometimes considered more different from other Arabic dialects. Officially, North African countries prefer to give preference to the Literary Arabic and conduct much of their political and religious life in it (adherence to Islam ), and refrain from declaring each country's specific variety to be

9639-493: The Democrat . He returned to Greenfield to spend time writing poetry. He met Clara Louise Bottsford, a school teacher boarding in his father's home. They found they had much in common, particularly their love of literature. The couple began a 12-year, intermittent relationship, Riley's longest. In mid-1878, the couple had their first breakup caused partly by Riley's alcoholism. Riley made a first attempt to give up liquor by joining

9792-509: The French words for 'redness', rougeur , or 'red-faced', rougeaud . According to this hypothesis, the early pejorative use of the word Hoosier may have a link to the color red ("rouge" in French) which is associated with indigenous peoples , pejoratively called "red men" or " red-skins ", and also with poor white people by calling them " red-necks ". Humorous folk etymologies for

9945-548: The Golden Age of Indiana Literature . With other writers of his era, he helped create a caricature of Midwesterners and formed a literary community that produced works rivaling the established eastern literati. There are many memorials dedicated to Riley, including the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children . James Whitcomb Riley was born on October 7, 1849, in the town of Greenfield, Indiana ,

10098-603: The Hellenic Griko language and Calabrian Greek ; the Serbo-Croatian Slavomolisano dialect ; and the various Slovene languages , including the Gail Valley dialect and Istrian dialect . The language indigenous to Sardinia , while being Romance in nature, is considered to be a specific linguistic family of its own, separate from the other Neo-Latin groups; it is often subdivided into

10251-609: The Middle Ages . However, all these languages evolved from Vulgar Latin in parallel with Italian, long prior to the popular diffusion of the latter throughout what is now Italy . During the Risorgimento , Italian still existed mainly as a literary language, and only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak Italian. Proponents of Italian nationalism , like the Lombard Alessandro Manzoni , stressed

10404-422: The Philippines , carries a pejorative undertone and underlines the politically and socially subordinated status of a non-national language to the country's single official language. In other words, these "dialects" are not actual dialects in the same sense as in the first usage, as they do not derive from the politically dominant language and are therefore not one of its varieties , but instead they evolved in

10557-420: The conscription of Italian men from all throughout Italy during World War I is credited with having facilitated the diffusion of Italian among the less educated conscripted soldiers, as these men, who had been speaking various regional languages up until then, found themselves forced to communicate with each other in a common tongue while serving in the Italian military. With the popular spread of Italian out of

10710-678: The volgare of the literate and upper class in Italy, and it spread throughout the peninsula and Sicily as the lingua franca among the Italian educated class as well as Italian travelling merchants. The economic prowess and cultural and artistic importance of Tuscany in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance further encouraged the diffusion of the Florentine-Tuscan Italian throughout Italy and among

10863-529: The Adelphians around central Indiana to earn an income while he searched for a new publisher. In August 1875, he joined another traveling tonic show run by the Wizard Oil Company . Riley began writing to the well-known American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during late 1875 seeking his endorsement to help him start a career as a poet. He submitted many poems to Longfellow, whom he considered

11016-533: The Adelphians to earn extra income. During the winter months, when the demand for painting declined, Riley began writing poetry which he mailed to his brother who lived in Indianapolis. He acted as Riley's agent and offered the poems to the Indianapolis Mirror newspaper free of charge. His first poem was featured on March 30, 1872, under the pseudonym "Jay Whit". Riley wrote more than 20 poems to

11169-481: The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica (Central America) by descendants of Jamaican people. The position that Costa Rican linguists support depends upon which university they represent. Another example is Scanian , which even, for a time, had its own ISO code. An important criterion for categorizing varieties of language is linguistic distance . For a variety to be considered a dialect, the linguistic distance between

11322-563: The Frost Is on the Punkin'" were the most popular and helped earn the entire series critical acclaim. The topics were popular with readers, reminding many of them of their childhood. Merrill, Meigs & Company (later renamed Bobbs-Merrill Company) approached Riley to compile the poems into a book. Riley agreed and his first book was published in August 1883, titled The Old Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems . The book's popularity necessitated

11475-450: The Indiana pioneers calling out "Who'sh 'ere?" as a general greeting and warning when hearing someone in the bushes and tall grass, to avoid shooting a relative or friend in error. The poet James Whitcomb Riley facetiously suggested that the fierce brawling that took place in Indiana involved enough biting that the expression "Whose ear?" became notable. This arose from or inspired the story of two 19th-century French immigrants brawling in

11628-563: The Indiana side of the Ohio River like New Albany rather than Kentuckians. During the excavation of the first canal around the Falls of the Ohio from 1826 to 1833, his employees became known as "Hoosier's men" and then simply "Hoosiers". The usage spread from these hard-working laborers to all of the Indiana boatmen in the area and then spread north with the settlement of the state. The story

11781-515: The Indianapolis area. Burdette was a member of the Redpath Lyceum Bureau of Boston, a prominent lecture circuit whose regular speakers included Ralph Waldo Emerson . Burdette encouraged Riley to join the circuit through its Chicago branch. Riley's accumulated debt and low income began causing him trouble in 1881, and he decided that rejoining a lecture circuit would provide much needed funds. His agreement for continued employment with

11934-717: The International Copyright League and had significant success in its efforts. When traveling to one of the league's meetings in New York City that year, Riley was struck by Bell's palsy . He recovered after three weeks but remained secluded to hide the effects of the sickness which he believed was caused by his alcoholism. He made another attempt to stop drinking alcohol with the help of a minister, but soon returned to his old habit. After recovering, Riley remained briefly in New York to participate in

12087-628: The Night". As was common at that time, Riley and his friends had few toys, and amused themselves with activities. With his mother's help, Riley began creating plays and theatricals, which he and his friends would practice and perform in the back of a local grocery store. As he grew older, the boys named their troupe the Adelphians and began to hold their shows in barns where they could fit larger audiences. Riley wrote of these early performances in his poem "When We First Played 'Show ' ", referring to himself as "Jamesy". Many of Riley's poems are filled with musical references. He had no musical education and

12240-512: The Poe plot. The Indianapolis Journal and other newspapers refused to accept his poetry, leaving him desperate for income. On the advice of a friend, in January 1878 Riley paid an entrance fee to join a traveling lecture circuit where he could give poetry readings. In exchange, he received a portion of the profit his performances earned. These circuits were popular at the time, and Riley quickly earned

12393-500: The Redpath Bureau was limiting his opportunities, and his relationship with his agent became strained. Due in part to the limited success of his latest book outside Indiana, Riley was persuaded to begin working with other midwestern writers to form an association to promote their work. Popular Indiana writer Lew Wallace , author of Ben-Hur , was a major promoter of the effort. During 1885, more than one hundred writers joined

12546-595: The Second World War, the South Slavic dialect continuum covering the area of today's North Macedonia were referred to as Bulgarian dialects . Sociolinguists agree that the question of whether Macedonian is a dialect of Bulgarian or a language is a political one and cannot be resolved on a purely linguistic basis. In Lebanon , a part of the Christian population considers "Lebanese" to be in some sense

12699-558: The Syrian dialect) are well documented, and widely spoken and studied. Zone III comprises the areas in which Arabic is spoken outside of the continuous Arabic Language area. Spoken dialects of the Arabic language share the same writing system and share Modern Standard Arabic as their common prestige dialect used in writing. When talking about the German language, the term German dialects

12852-704: The West-Germanic language group. Some language siblings are closer to each other in terms of linguistic distance than to other linguistic siblings. French and Spanish, siblings in the Romance Branch of the Indo-European group, are closer to each other than they are to any of the languages of the West-Germanic group. When languages are close in terms of linguistic distance, they resemble one another, hence why dialects are not considered linguistically distant to their parent language. One criterion, which

13005-513: The act, composing poetry and performing at the shows. After his act he sold tonics to his audience, sometimes employing dishonesty. During one stop, Riley presented himself as a formerly blind painter who had been cured by a tonic, using himself as evidence to encourage the audience to purchase it. Riley began sending poems to his brother again in February 1873. About the same time he and several friends began an advertisement company. The men traveled around Indiana creating large billboard-like signs on

13158-520: The book Shanties from the Seven Seas by Stan Hugill, in reference to its former use to denote cotton -stowers, who would move bales of cotton to and from the holds of ships and force them in tightly by means of jackscrews . A Hoosier cabinet , often shortened to "hoosier", is a type of free-standing kitchen cabinet popular in the early decades of the twentieth century. Almost all of these cabinets were produced by companies located in Indiana and

13311-822: The circuit depended on his ability to draw audiences during the first season, beginning in April 1881. He succeeded, drawing the largest crowds in Chicago and Indianapolis . Because of his success in the Midwest, the circuit leaders invited him to make an east coast tour, starting in Boston at the Tremont Temple in February 1882. Riley agreed, signing a ten-year agreement and granting half his receipts to his agent. Before his performance, he traveled to Longfellow's home in Massachusetts and convinced him to agree to

13464-470: The country's official language(s). Dialects in this sense do not derive from a dominant language, are therefore not one of its varieties , but they evolved in a separate and parallel way. While they may be historically cognate with and share genetic roots in the same subfamily as the dominant national language and may, to a varying degree, share some mutual intelligibility with the latter, "dialects" under this second definition are separate languages from

13617-454: The default everyday language in virtually every situation, whereas standard German is only spoken in education, partially in media, and with foreigners not possessing knowledge of Swiss German. Most Swiss German speakers perceive standard German to be a foreign language. The Low German and Low Franconian varieties spoken in Germany are often counted among the German dialects. This reflects

13770-427: The delirium caused by drinking. Although Riley rarely published anything controversial, some of his poems published from the same period, including "Afterwhiles", allude to drug usage and make vague sexual references. During the early 1880s, Riley still made submissions to the elite literary periodicals, but continued to be rejected. Riley found this discouraging, but persevered. He believed he would never be recognized as

13923-594: The dialects are spoken varies according to a number of factors: In Northern Germany, dialects are less common than in the South. In cities, dialects are less common than in the countryside. In a public environment, dialects are less common than in a familiar environment. The situation in Switzerland and Liechtenstein is different from the rest of the German-speaking countries. The Swiss German dialects are

14076-440: The distinction between "language" and "dialect" an issue of political importance. A group speaking a separate "language" may be seen as having a greater claim to being a separate "people", and thus to be more deserving of its own independent state, while a group speaking a "dialect" may be seen as a sub-group, part of a bigger people, which must content itself with regional autonomy. The Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich published

14229-534: The earliest known use of the term was actually written in 1846, not 1826. Similarly, the use of the term in an 1859 newspaper item quoting an 1827 diary entry by Sandford Cox was more likely an editorial comment and not from the original diary. Smith's earliest sources led him to argue that the word originated as a term along the Ohio River for flatboatmen from Indiana and did not acquire its pejorative meanings until 1836, after Finley's poem. William Piersen,

14382-606: The educated and powerful, though local and regional languages remained the main languages of the common people. Aside from the Italo-Dalmatian languages , the second most widespread family in Italy is the Gallo-Italic group , spanning throughout much of Northern Italy 's languages and dialects (such as Piedmontese , Emilian-Romagnol , Ligurian , Lombard , Venetian , Sicily's and Basilicata's Gallo-Italic in southern Italy , etc.). Finally, other languages from

14535-447: The end of 1882, Riley's finances began improving dramatically, thanks largely to the income from his performances. During 1883 he began writing his "Boone County" poems under the pseudonym "Benjamin F. Johnson of Boone". They were almost entirely written in dialect and emphasized topics of rural life during the early nineteenth century, often employing nostalgia and the simplicity of country life as elements. "The Old Swimmin'-Hole" and "When

14688-707: The end of the American Revolution . He was a close associate and personal friend of Bishop Francis Asbury , the "Father of the American Methodist Church". Benjamin Rush said of him that "making allowances for his illiteracy, he was the greatest orator in America". His sermons called on Methodists to reject slavery and to champion the common working man. Piersen proposed that Methodist communities inspired by his example took or were given

14841-461: The expression, A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot ( "אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און פֿלאָט" : " A language is a dialect with an army and navy ") in YIVO Bleter 25.1, 1945, p. 13. The significance of the political factors in any attempt at answering the question "what is a language?" is great enough to cast doubt on whether any strictly linguistic definition, without

14994-723: The family home and briefly took a job painting houses before leaving Greenfield in November 1870. He was recruited as a Bible salesman and began working in the nearby town of Rushville, Indiana . The job provided little income and he returned to Greenfield in March 1871 where he started an apprenticeship to a painter. He completed it and opened a business in Greenfield creating and maintaining signs. His earliest known poems are verses he wrote as clever advertisements for his customers. Riley began participating in local theater productions with

15147-637: The family home. Riley picked up the cadence and character of the dialect of central Indiana from travelers along the old National Road . Their speech greatly influenced the hundreds of poems he wrote in 19th century Hoosier dialect. His mother often told him stories of fairies, trolls , and giants, and read him children's poems. She was very superstitious and influenced Riley with many of her beliefs. They both placed "spirit rappings" in their homes on places like tables and bureaux to capture any spirits that may have been wandering about. This influence can be found in many of his works, including "Flying Islands of

15300-410: The family home. While he was away, the family took in a 12-year-old orphan named Mary Alice "Allie" Smith. She was the inspiration for Riley's poem " Little Orphant Annie ". Riley had intended titling the poem "Little Orphant Allie", but a typesetter 's error changed it during printing. Riley's father returned from the war partially paralyzed. He was unable to continue working in his legal practice, and

15453-480: The family soon fell into financial distress. The war's negative effects soon caused his relationship with his family to deteriorate. He opposed Riley's interest in poetry and encouraged him to find a different career. The family finances finally disintegrated. They were forced to sell their town home in April 1870 and return to their country farm. Riley's mother was able to keep peace in the family, but after her death in August from heart disease , Riley and his father had

15606-452: The finest he had ever heard, "in which a homely dramatis [ sic ] persona's heart is laid open by subtle indirect, absolutely sure and tender" poetry. As a result of his New York performance, his name and picture were carried in all the major eastern papers, and he quickly became well known throughout the United States. Sales of The Boss Girl increased, resulting in the fifth and largest printing, and Riley finally began to achieve

15759-401: The first linguistic definition of the term, as they are in fact derived from Italian, with some degree of influence from the local or regional native languages and accents. The most widely spoken languages of Italy, which are not to be confused with regional Italian, fall within a family of which even Italian is part, the Italo-Dalmatian group . This wide category includes: Modern Italian

15912-423: The following: government recognition or designation; formal presentation in schooling as the "correct" form of a language; informal monitoring of everyday usage ; published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a normative spoken and written form; and an extensive formal literature (be it prose, poetry, non-fiction, etc.) that uses it. An example of a standardized language is the French language which

16065-404: The greatest living poet. Not receiving a prompt response, he sent similar letters to John Townsend Trowbridge and several other prominent writers asking for an endorsement. Longfellow finally replied in a brief letter, telling Riley, "I have read [the poems] in great pleasure, and think they show a true poetic faculty and insight." Riley carried the letter with him everywhere and, hoping to receive

16218-633: The group but came to depend on its regular meetings as an escape from his normally hectic schedule. Through the association, Riley became acquainted with most of the notable writers in the Midwestern United States, including humorist Edgar Wilson Nye of Chicago. After completing his lecture circuit in 1885, Riley formed a partnership with Nye and his agent to begin a new tour. The Redpath Bureau agreed to allow Riley to tour with Nye, provided he maintained his financial agreements with them. In addition to touring, Riley and Nye collaborated on

16371-532: The group. They held their first meeting in July, naming themselves the Western Association of Writers. At the meeting Maurice Thompson was named president, and Riley vice president. The association never succeeded in its goal of creating a powerful advertising force, but became a social club and a rival literary community to the eastern writing establishment. Riley was disappointed with the shortcomings of

16524-413: The importance of establishing a uniform national language in order to better create an Italian national identity . With the unification of Italy in the 1860s, Italian became the official national language of the new Italian state, while the other ones came to be institutionally regarded as "dialects" subordinate to Italian, and negatively associated with a lack of education. In the early 20th century,

16677-544: The intellectual circles, because of the mass-media and the establishment of public education , Italians from all regions were increasingly exposed to Italian. While dialect levelling has increased the number of Italian speakers and decreased the number of speakers of other languages native to Italy, Italians in different regions have developed variations of standard Italian specific to their region. These variations of standard Italian, known as " regional Italian ", would thus more appropriately be called dialects in accordance with

16830-590: The intelligibility criterion to distinguish between languages and dialects, though mutuality may not be as relevant as initially thought. The requirement for mutuality is abandoned by the Language Survey Reference Guide of SIL International , publishers of the Ethnologue and the registration authority for the ISO 639-3 standard for language codes . They define a dialect cluster as

16983-539: The lectures, he began compiling a second book of poetry. He completed it during July, and Bowen-Merrill published it in December with the title The Boss Girl, A Christmas Story and Other Sketches . The book, which contained humorous poetry and short stories, received mixed reviews. It was popular around Indiana, where most of its copies were sold. One reviewer, however, called the poems "weird, nightmarish, and eerie" and compared them to Edgar Allan Poe's works. While Riley

17136-616: The mid-1880s, including "Little Orphant Annie". Riley attempted to secure a new job at a periodical and leave the Journal , but the magazines would not hire him unless he was willing to relocate. Riley was steadfast in his refusal to leave Indiana telling reporters that his rural home was his inspiration and to leave would ruin his poetry. Riley renewed his relationship with Bottsford for a third and final time in 1883. The two corresponded frequently and had secret lovers' rendezvous. He stopped visiting other women and their relationship became more dedicated and stable. Bottsford became convinced Riley

17289-405: The modern situation where they are roofed by standard German. This is different from the situation in the Middle Ages when Low German had strong tendencies towards an ausbau language . The Frisian languages spoken in Germany and the Netherlands are excluded from the German dialects. Italy is an often quoted example of a country where the second definition of the word "dialect" ( dialetto )

17442-669: The name derives from the largest of them, the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana . Other Indiana businesses include Hoosier Racing Tire and the Hoosier Bat Company, manufacturer of wooden baseball bats . The RCA Dome , former home of the Indianapolis Colts , was known as the "Hoosier Dome" before RCA purchased the naming rights in 1994. The RCA Dome was replaced by Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008. Dialect A dialect

17595-585: The national language) of limited geographic distribution, languages lacking institutional support, or even those considered to be "unsuitable for writing". Occasionally, in a third usage, dialect refers to the unwritten or non-codified languages of developing countries or isolated areas, where the term " vernacular language " would be preferred by linguists. Features that distinguish dialects from each other can be found in lexicon ( vocabulary ) and grammar ( morphology , syntax ) as well as in pronunciation ( phonology , including prosody ). In instances where

17748-478: The newspaper, including one that was featured on the front page. In July 1872, after becoming convinced sales would provide more income than sign painting, he joined the McCrillus Company based in Anderson, Indiana . The company sold patent medicines that they marketed using small traveling shows around Indiana. Riley joined the act as a huckster , calling himself the "Painter Poet". He traveled with

17901-459: The others. To describe this situation, the editors of the Handbook of African Languages introduced the term dialect cluster as a classificatory unit at the same level as a language. A similar situation, but with a greater degree of mutual unintelligibility, has been termed a language cluster . In the Language Survey Reference Guide issued by SIL International , who produce Ethnologue ,

18054-535: The poem was authentic, most did not, claiming the quality was too poor to be written by Poe. A Dispatch employee learned the truth of the incident and reported it to the Kokomo Tribune , which published an exposé that outed Riley as a conspirator behind the hoax. The revelation damaged the Dispatch ' s credibility and harmed Riley's reputation. In the aftermath of the Poe plot, Riley was dismissed from

18207-403: The relationship after they had decided against marriage in August. Despite local success at having his poems published, his submissions continued to be rejected by established eastern periodicals as being below their standards. Riley began formulating a plot to prove his work was of good quality and that it was being rejected only because his name was unknown in the east. He wrote a poem imitating

18360-731: The salient distinctions are only or mostly to be observed in pronunciation, the more specific term accent may be used instead of dialect . Differences that are largely concentrated in lexicon may be classified as creoles . When lexical differences are mostly concentrated in the specialized vocabulary of a profession or other organization, they are jargons . Differences in vocabulary that are deliberately cultivated to exclude outsiders or to serve as shibboleths are known as cryptolects or cant, and include slangs and argots . The particular speech patterns used by an individual are referred to as that person's idiolect . Languages are classified as dialects based on linguistic distance . The dialects of

18513-486: The same language if (under at least some circumstances) they would defer to the same authority regarding some questions about their language. For instance, to learn the name of a new invention, or an obscure foreign species of plant, speakers of Westphalian and East Franconian German might each consult a German dictionary or ask a German-speaking expert in the subject. Thus these varieties are said to be dependent on, or heteronomous with respect to, Standard German , which

18666-476: The same language. A number of rough measures exist, sometimes leading to contradictory results. The distinction between dialect and language is therefore subjective and depends upon the user's preferred frame of reference. For example, there has been discussion about whether or not the Limón Creole English should be considered "a kind" of English or a different language. This creole is spoken in

18819-813: The same town or region. The classification of speech varieties as dialects or languages and their relationship to other varieties of speech can be controversial and the verdicts inconsistent. Serbo-Croatian illustrates this point. Serbo-Croatian has two major formal variants ( Serbian and Croatian ). Both are based on the Shtokavian dialect and therefore mutually intelligible with differences found mostly in their respective local vocabularies and minor grammatical differences. Certain dialects of Serbia ( Torlakian ) and Croatia ( Kajkavian and Chakavian ), however, are not mutually intelligible even though they are usually subsumed under Serbo-Croatian. How these dialects should be classified in relation to Shtokavian remains

18972-413: The sense in which makes for tears as well as for laughter". Although he was a good performer, his acts were not entirely original in style; he frequently copied practices developed by Samuel Clemens and Will Carleton . His tour in 1880 took him to every city in Indiana where he was introduced by local dignitaries and other popular figures, including novelist Maurice Thompson with whom he began to develop

19125-448: The sides of buildings and barns and in high places that were visible from a distance. The company was financially successful, but Riley was continually drawn to poetry. In October, he traveled to South Bend where he took a job at Stockford & Blowney painting verses on signs for a month; the shortness of his stay at this job may have been due to his frequent drunkenness at that time. In early 1874, Riley returned to Greenfield to become

19278-474: The standard or national language. Under this definition, the standard or national language would not itself be considered a dialect, as it is the dominant language in terms of linguistic prestige , social or political (e.g. official ) status, predominance or prevalence, or all of the above. Dialect used this way implies a political connotation, often being used to refer to non-standardized "low-prestige" languages (regardless of their actual degree of distance from

19431-555: The state was "Indianian". In addition to "The Hoosier's Nest," the term also appeared in the Indianapolis Journal 's "Carrier's Address" on January 1, 1833. There are many suggestions for the derivation of the word but none is universally accepted. In 1833 the Pittsburgh Statesman said the term had been in use for "some time past" and suggested it originated from census workers calling "Who's here?". Also in 1833, former Indiana Governor James B. Ray began publishing

19584-497: The stereotype by writing poetry he thought would help build his identity. He was aided by editorials he wrote and submitted to the Indianapolis Journal offering observations on events from his perspective as a "humble rural poet". He changed his appearance to look more mainstream, and began by shaving his mustache off and abandoning the flamboyant dress he employed in his early circuit tours. By 1880 his poems were published nationally and receiving positive reviews. "Tom Johnson's Quit"

19737-560: The story into the Congressional Record in 1975, and matches the timing and location of Smith's subsequent research. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been unable to find any record of a Hoosier or Hosier in surviving canal company records. The word "hoosier" has been used in Greater St. Louis as a pejorative for an unintelligent or uncultured person. The word is also encountered in sea shanties . In

19890-487: The style of Edgar Allan Poe and submitted it to the Kokomo Dispatch under a fictitious name claiming it was a long-lost Poe poem. The Dispatch published the poem and reported it as such. Riley and two other men who were part of the plot waited two weeks for the poem to be published by major newspapers in Chicago, Boston, and New York to gauge their reaction; they were disappointed. While a few newspapers believed

20043-584: The term "dialect" for forms that they believed (sometimes wrongly) to be purer forms of the older languages, as in how early dialectologists of English did not consider the Brummie of Birmingham or the Scouse of Liverpool to be real dialects, as they had arisen fairly recently in time and partly as a result of influences from Irish migrants. There is no universally accepted criterion for distinguishing two different languages from two dialects (i.e. varieties) of

20196-615: The term "hoosier" have a long history, as recounted by Dunn in The Word Hoosier . One account traces the word to the necessary caution of approaching houses on the frontier. In order to avoid being shot, a traveler would call out from afar to let themselves be known. The inhabitants of the cabin would then reply "Who's here?" which – in the Appalachian English of the early settlers – slurred into "Who'sh 'ere?" and thence into "Hoosier?" A variant of this account had

20349-615: The third of the six children of Reuben Andrew and Elizabeth Marine Riley. Riley's grandparents came from Ireland to Pennsylvania before moving to the Midwest Riley's father was an attorney, and in the year before his birth, he was elected a member of the Indiana House of Representatives as a Democrat . He developed a friendship with James Whitcomb , the governor of Indiana, after whom he named his son. Martin Riley, Riley's uncle,

20502-496: The time, and the impression Riley made on the city's literary community finally encouraged prestigious periodicals to publish his work. The Century Magazine was the first to do so, running "In Swimming-Time" in its September 1883 issue. Until the 1890s, it remained the only major literary magazine to publish Riley's work. Knowing the high standards of the magazine, Riley reserved his best work each year to submit to it, including one of his favorites, "The Old Man and Jim" in 1887. By

20655-621: The two varieties must be low. Linguistic distance between spoken or written forms of language increases as the differences between the forms are characterized. For example, two languages with completely different syntactical structures would have a high linguistic distance, while a language with very few differences from another may be considered a dialect or a sibling of that language. Linguistic distance may be used to determine language families and language siblings. For example, languages with little linguistic distance, like Dutch and German , are considered siblings. Dutch and German are siblings in

20808-663: The use of the word in the Upland South to refer to woodsmen, yokels, and rough people. Dunn traced the word back to the Cumbrian hoozer , meaning anything unusually large, derived from the Old English hoo (as at Sutton Hoo ), meaning "high" and "hill". The importance of immigrants from northern England and southern Scotland was reflected in numerous placenames including the Cumberland Mountains ,

20961-502: The vigorous promotion of Germanic Tyrolean ), but have been officially recognized as minority languages ( minoranze linguistiche storiche ), in light of their distinctive historical development. Yet, most of the regional languages spoken across the peninsula are often colloquially referred to in non-linguistic circles as Italian dialetti , since most of them, including the prestigious Neapolitan , Sicilian and Venetian , have adopted vulgar Tuscan as their reference language since

21114-440: The widespread fame he sought. Clemens disliked being upstaged by Riley and attempted to avoid any future joint performances with him. According to one review, Clemens "shriveled up into a bitter patch of melancholy in the fierce light of Mr. Riley's humour". After returning home from his tour in early 1888, Riley finished compiling his third book, titled Old-Fashioned Roses . Arranged to appeal to British readers, it included only

21267-577: Was 10 years old, the first library opened in his hometown. From an early age he developed a love of literature. He and his friends spent time at the library where the librarian read stories and poems to them. Charles Dickens became one Riley's favorites and inspired the poems "St. Lirriper", "Christmas Season", and "God Bless Us Every One". Riley's father enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War , leaving his wife to manage

21420-487: Was 21 years old. At age five, he began spending time at the Brandywine Creek near Greenfield. His poems "A Barefoot Boy" and " The Old Swimmin' Hole " refer to his time there. As a child he was introduced to many people who later influenced his poetry. His father regularly brought home clients and disadvantaged people to help them. Riley's poem "The Raggedy Man" is based on a German tramp his father hired to work at

21573-528: Was always being challenged to prove his might, and seems to have won several fights over men half his age. After whipping six or eight men in a fist fight in Louisville, Kentucky, he cracked his fists and said, "Ain't I a husher", which was changed in the news to "Hoosier", and thus originated the name of Hoosier in connection with Indiana men. Jorge Santander Serrano, a PhD student from Indiana University , has also suggested that Hoosier might come from

21726-461: Was an amateur poet who occasionally wrote verses for local newspapers. Riley was fond of his uncle who influenced his interest in poetry. Shortly after his birth, the family moved into a larger house in town. Riley was "a quiet boy, not talkative, who would often go about with one eye shut as he observed and speculated". His mother taught him to read and write at home before sending him to the local community school in 1852. He found school difficult and

21879-439: Was carried by newspapers in twenty states, thanks in part to the careful cultivation of his popularity. Riley became frustrated that despite his growing acclaim he found it difficult to achieve financial success. In the early 1880s, in addition to his steady performing, Riley began producing many poems to increase his income. Half of his poems were written during this period. The constant labor had adverse effects on his health, which

22032-401: Was frequently in trouble. Often punished, he had nothing kind to say of his teachers in his writings. His poem "The Educator" tells of an intelligent but sinister teacher and may have been based on one of his instructors. Riley was most fond of his last teacher, Lee O. Harris. Harris noticed Riley's interest in poetry and reading and encouraged him to pursue it further. Riley's school attendance

22185-732: Was offered a position as a columnist at the Indianapolis Journal and accepted after being encouraged by E.B. Matindale, the paper's chief editor. Although the play and his newspaper work helped expose him to a wider audience, the chief source of his increasing popularity was his performances on the lecture circuit. He gave both dramatic and comedic readings of his poetry, and by early 1879 could guarantee large crowds when he performed. In an 1894 article, Hamlin Garland wrote that Riley's celebrity resulted from his reading talent saying, "his vibrant individual voice, his flexible lips, his droll glance, united to make him at once poet and comedian—comedian in

22338-530: Was quickly becoming wealthy from his books and touring, earning nearly $ 20,000 in 1888. He no longer needed his job at the journal and left it near the end of that year. The newspaper had served to earn him fame and had published hundreds of his articles, stories, and poems. In March 1888, Riley traveled to Washington, D.C. where he had dinner at the White House with other members of the International Copyright League and President Grover Cleveland . Riley gave

22491-402: Was seeing another woman, however, and they ended their relationship in January 1885. Riley's sister, Mary, had become a close friend of Bottsford and scolded him for his mistreatment of her. Her reputation was tarnished by the affair, and she found it difficult to find employment once their relationship was over. In 1884, Riley toured the major cities in the eastern United States again. Following

22644-454: Was sporadic, and he graduated from grade eight at age 20 in 1869. In an 1892 newspaper article, Riley confessed he knew little of mathematics, geography, or science, and his understanding of proper grammar was poor. Later critics, like Henry Beers, pointed to his poor education as the reason for his success in writing; his prose was written in the language of common people which spurred his popularity. Riley lived in his parents' home until he

22797-400: Was told to Dunn in 1901 by a man who had heard it from a Hoosier relative while traveling in southern Tennessee . Dunn could not find any family of the given name in any directory in the region or anyone else in southern Tennessee who had heard the story and accounted himself dubious. This version was subsequently retold by Gov .  Evan Bayh and Sen .  Vance Hartke , who introduced

22950-477: Was traveling with the Adelphians but never performed, the play has similarities to A Midsummer Night's Dream , which Riley may have used as a model. It concerns a kingdom besieged by evil forces of a sinister queen who is defeated eventually by an angel-like heroine. Most reviews were positive. Riley published the play, and it became popular in the central Indiana area during late 1878, helping him to convince newspapers to accept his poetry again. In November 1879, he

23103-408: Was unable to read sheet music . His father taught him to play the guitar, and a friend taught him the violin. He performed in two different local bands and became so proficient on the violin he was invited to play with a group of adult Freemasons at several events. A few of his later poems were set to music and song, one of the most well known being " A Short'nin' Bread Song—Pieced Out ". When Riley

23256-401: Was working on his book, he was unexpectedly invited by James B. Pond , the agent for many of the nation's major performers, to join a one-hundred nights' engagement in New York City in a show that included Samuel Clemens and Dudley Warner . Riley was unable to agree with the Redpath Bureau who had to authorize any other performance under the terms of their contract. He believed his contract with

23409-488: Was worsened by his drinking. At the urging of Maurice Thompson, he again attempted to stop drinking liquor, but was unable to give it up for more than a few months. Riley moved to Indianapolis at the end of 1879 to begin his employment with the Indianapolis Journal . It was the only metropolitan newspaper there with daily editions and had a wide readership. He wrote a regular society column that often included verses of poetry. Thereafter Riley met many prominent people and began

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