SOURCE: "The Artistic Conscience of Vachel Lindsay," in Journal of American Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, October, 1968, pp. 239-52.

In the following excerpt, Massa, author of Vachel Lindsay: Fieldworker for the American Dream, explores the relationship between Lindsay's artistic awareness and his social conscience.

Lindsay was convinced of the existence of a national malaise; and it was this conviction which diverted his artistic conscience into social channels. He was worried about amorality, conspicuous consumption, and urban eyesores. He was horrified by the perversion of electoral processes at city level, and by scandals at Federal Government level. Darwinistic indifference to social and financial inequalities appalled him; so did the jungle that awaited immigrants. Dedicated materialism was gaining adherence, while traditional standards of religion and morality, to which he subscribed, were slipping.

He determined to stir up awareness of these alarming tendencies; and in the War Bulletins of 1909 (his privately printed monthly...