SOURCE: Beers, Henry A. “The Singer of the Old Swimmin' Hole.” In The Connecticut Wits and Other Essays, pp. 31-43. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1920.

In the following essay, Beers extols the simplicity and sentimentality of Riley's verse, arguing that while Walt Whitman might be “the poet of democracy,” James Whitcomb Riley is “the poet of the American people.”

Many years ago I said to one of Walt Whitman's biographers: “Whitman may, as you claim, be the poet of democracy, but he is not the poet of the American people. He is the idol of a literary culte. Shall I tell you who the poet of the American people is just at present? He is James Whitcomb Riley of Indiana.” Riley used to become quite blasphemous when speaking of Whitman. He said that the latter had begun by scribbling newspaper poetry of the usual kind—and very poor...