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253:, appeared in 1878, but found few buyers. Moore gave a second public performance in late 1878 at the same opera house. By then she had figured out that the praise directed to her was false and the jeering sincere. She began by admitting her poetry was "partly full of mistakes" and that "literary is a work very hard to do". After the poetry and the laughter and jeering in response was over, Moore ended the show by telling the audience:
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Moore has been grouped into the
Western Michigan School of Bad Versemakers. Her local contemporaries — including Dr. William Fuller, S.H. Ewell, J.B. Smiley, and Fred Yapple — do not appear to have had relationships with each other, but their proximity and similar penchant for exceptionally laughable
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Young Julia grew up on her family's
Michigan farm, the eldest of four children. When she was ten, her mother became ill, and Julia assumed many of her mother's responsibilities. Her formal education was thereby limited. In her mid-teens, she started writing poetry and songs, mostly in response to the
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According to some reports, though, her husband was not grateful, but embarrassed. Shamed or not, he moved the family 100 miles north to Manton in 1882. Moore's notoriety was known in Manton, but the locals respected her, and did not cooperate with the occasional reporter trying to revisit the past.
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Afterwards, her husband forbade her to publish any more poetry. Three more poems were eventually published, and she would write poems for friends. In 1880, she also published, in newspaper serialization, a short story, "Lost and Found", a strongly moralistic story about a drunkard, and a novella,
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Her husband died in 1914. The next year, Julia republished "Sunshine and Shadow" in pamphlet form. She spent much of her widowhood "melancholy", sitting on her porch. She died quietly in 1920. The news of her death was widely reported, sometimes with a light touch.
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anthology, and in other collections of bad poetry. Most of her poetry was reprinted in a 1928 edition, which can be found online. Her complete poetry and prose, with biography, notes, and references, can be found in the
Riedlinger edited collection
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Moore gave a reading and singing performance, with orchestral accompaniment, in 1877 at a Grand Rapids opera house. She somehow misinterpreted the jeering of the audience as criticism of the orchestra. Moore's second collection,
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Shakespeare, could he read it, would be glad that he was dead …. If Julia A. Moore would kindly deign to shed some of her poetry on our humble grave, we should be but too glad to go out and shoot ourselves tomorrow.
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At age 17, she married
Frederick Franklin Moore, a farmer. Julia ran a small store and, over the years, bore ten children, of whom six survived to adulthood. She continued to write poetry and songs.
270:. The ending of "Sunshine and Shadow" was perhaps intended to be self-referential: the farmer facing foreclosure is gratefully rescued by his wife's publishing her secret cache of fiction.
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hyperdithyrambic meters, pseudo-poetic inversions, gangling asymmetrical lines, extremely pat or elaborately inexact rimes, parenthetical dissertations, and unexpected puns.
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The collection became a curious best-seller, though it is unclear whether this was due to public amusement with Moore's poetry or genuine appreciation of the admittedly "
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You have come here and paid twenty-five cents to see a fool; I receive seventy-five dollars, and see a whole houseful of fools.
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201:. Ryder sent out numerous review copies to newspapers across the country, with a cover letter filled with low-key mock praise.
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was a self-described fan of Moore (though not for the reasons Moore would have liked). Twain alluded to her work in
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And so Moore received national attention. Following Ryder's lead, contemporary reviews were amusedly negative. The
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Mortal
Refrains: The Complete Collected Poetry, Prose, and Songs of Julia A. Moore, The Sweet Singer of Michigan
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Despite her acknowledgment that "Literary is a work very difficult to do," she did not approve of the life of
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Michigan Centennial Celebration Program (1939): Julia A. Moore, the Sweet Singer of Michigan
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to meet such steady and unremitting demands on the lachrymal ducts one must be provided, as
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They were a successful business couple, he with an orchard and sawmill, she with a store.
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to the joys of sobriety. Most importantly, like McGonagall, she was drawn to themes of
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death of children she knew, but any newspaper account of disaster could inspire her.
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is worth making. Unlike McGonagall, Moore commanded a fairly wide variety of
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that had been broadly popular in the U.S. throughout the mid-19th century.
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has held the Julia A. Moore Poetry
Festival to celebrate bad poetry.
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suspected Job
Trotter was, 'with a main, as is allus let on.'…
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In
Memoriam Humor: Julia Moore and the Western Michigan Poets
487: To dwell in that mansion above,
387: "You're a reform drunkard, too;
383: They care not for the slang --
355: It will remain a darken spot.
174:"Literary is a work very difficult to do" ~ Julia A. Moore
491: In God's everlasting love.
359: To see that City in flames;
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670:"The Good, the Bad, and the Good Bad by Abigail Deutsch"
452: Whilst I his fate do tell.
391: Among the drunkard crew."
379: That never drank a drachm,
162:, she is best known for writing notoriously bad poetry.
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is not far removed from Moore's poems on subjects like
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verse have led to their posthumous grouping together.
415: Noble, but poor, indeed.
456: By falling down a well.
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Grangerford's funereal ode to
Stephen Dowling Botts:
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461: Alas it was too late;
419: By his own misdeeds.
351: Will never be forgot;
332:, in her pages you can count the dead and wounded.
154:; December 1, 1847 – June 5, 1920) was an American
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407: Was of a low degree,
368:Her less morbid side is on display when she hymns
645:"CONTEST WILL RECALL THE POET WHO'S WORST OF ALL"
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711:Wyndham-Lewis, D. B., and Lee, Charles (eds.):
199:The Sweet Singer of Michigan Salutes the Public
715:N.Y. Review of Books (2003), reprint edition.
502:Moore was also the inspiration for comic poet
411: And bad company.
197:publisher, who republished it under the title
19:"Julia Moore" redirects here. For the wife of
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302:meter. Like McGonagall, she held a maidenly
508:The Oxford Companion to American Literature
485:One more little spirit to Heaven has flown,
454: His soul did from this cold world fly
189:, was published in 1876 by C. M. Loomis of
127:Learn how and when to remove this message
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489:Where dear little angels, together roam,
322:, and sudden death; as has been said of
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757:Michigan State University Press (1998)
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713:The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Verse
463:His spirit was gone for to sport aloft
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389:You've joined the red ribbon brigade,
298:the majority of her verse is in the
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381:Those noble men were kind and brave
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385:The slang they meet on every side:
262:"Sunshine and Shadow", a peculiar
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837:People from Kent County, Michigan
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459:They got him out and emptied him;
450:O no. Then list with tearful eye,
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518:Selections of Moore appeared in
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413:He sprung from an ancient house,
349:The great Chicago Fire, friends,
340:". Here, she is inspired by the
251:A Few Choice Words to the Public
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676:. Poetry Foundation. 2018-07-31
417:His career on earth, was marred
409:Caused by his reckless conduct,
361:But no human aid could save it,
52:needs additional citations for
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439:Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
357:It was a dreadful horrid sight
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847:Poets from Michigan
725:Parsons, Nicholas.
520:D. B. Wyndham-Lewis
308:Temperance movement
286:Some comparison to
268:American Revolution
25:Julia Compton Moore
342:Great Chicago Fire
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158:. Like Scotland's
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528:Stuffed Owl
524:Charles Lee
338:Gatling gun
266:set in the
239:sentimental
816:Categories
706:References
680:2018-07-31
655:2018-07-31
504:Ogden Nash
430:Mark Twain
231:Sam Weller
225:said that
87:newspapers
425:Influence
208:wrote of
195:Cleveland
166:Biography
156:poetaster
21:Hal Moore
798:LibriVox
689:cite web
550:See also
495:—
469:—
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316:accident
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