Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914

American poet.

Poet and author of Louisville, Kentucky.

Madison Julius Cawein, a poet, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1865. After graduating from Male High School, Cawein worked as a cashier in the Newmarket poolroom. He wrote his poetry at night and in his spare time. His poetic career was launched in 1887 when William Dean Howells favorably reviewed his first book, Blooms of Berry. Cawein's poetry shows the naturalist lore he learned from his father and the creative imagination of his spirtualist mother. Cawein's nature poetry perserves a landscape that has all but disappeared. The poems Cawein wrote are visionary. Cawein died of an apopletic attack on December 8, 1914. [Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 176.]

Louisville (Jefferson Co.), Ky. resident.

Poet.

Madison Julius Cawein was born in Louisville, Ky. to German parents on March 23, 1865. He attended Male High School, graduating in 1886. Cawein cited the influence of the English Romantic poets on his own work, particularly Keats, Shelly, Coleridge, Tennyson, Browning and Wordsworth. His first publication, BLOOMS OF THE BERRY (1887), was praised by critics William Dean Howells, and James Whitcomb Riley. Cawien was recognized as a poet of nature since his works often reflected his interest in Kentucky flora and fauna. Joyce Kilmer wrote that Cawein was "the greatest nature poet of his time" (CATHOLIC WORLD, March 1917). Before his sudden death at the age of forty-nine in 1914, Cawien published thirty books.