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M A N W I T H A B U L L - T O N G U E D P L O W
E. P. Dutton & Co., New York City,
New York, 1934. 361 pp. |
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Man with a Bull-Tongued Plow
was Jesse Stuart's first commercially
published book. The opening line of the book’s
first poem, “I am
a farmer singing at the plow,” is
perhaps Stuart’s most famous phrase. The
book’s 361 pages contains 702 sonnets.
The book brought Stuart national
recognition, mostly positive, but some
also critical. One reviewer wrote that
he “ seems to write poetry as naturally
as he breathes.” And, then added that he
“was an honest-to-god poet, with more
gusto and vitality than any American
lyricist has evinced since Stephen
Vincent Benet” (Richardson, Jesse,
219).
The undated inscription is poem number 36 in the book, which
Stuart dedicated to John Wilson Townsend, a
Kentucky writer, who was born 1885 and died in
1968. In a paper back edition of the
book, published in 1959 (copy in Jesse
Stuart Collection), Stuart wrote
that Townsend is “a friend of many, many
years.” Townsend’s papers are
located at the Eastern Kentucky
University library. The identity of Bill Elkins
(the second inscription, dated September
8, 1958) is not known.
The Jesse Stuart Collection has two
copies of the first edition, both signed
by Jesse Stuart. |
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