Emory Aaron "Big Rich" Richardson (April 30, 1886 – September 17, 1965) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

. He was the first person to be unofficially designated state poet laureate of Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. The Indiana State Poet Laureate

Indiana State Poet Laureate

The Indiana State Poet Laureate is the poet laureate for the U.S. state of Indiana. Senate Enrolled Act No. 433 created the made the position effective July 1, 2005, but Indiana had a well-established unofficial position of state poet laureate since 1929. Laureates serve a two year term...

 position was not made official until July 1, 2005. Much of his poetry was written about his native Indiana, especially Hoosier

Hoosier

Hoosier is the official demonym for a resident of the U.S. state of Indiana. Although residents of most U.S. states typically adopt a derivative of the state name, e.g., "Indianan" or "Indianian", natives of Indiana rarely use these. Indiana adopted the nickname "Hoosier State" more than 150...

 nature and courtry life.

Life

Emory Aaron Richardson was born on a farm in Clay Township

Clay Township, Pike County, Indiana

Clay Township is one of nine townships in Pike County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 340.As of the 2010 census, the United States Census Bureau reported that 2010 median center of population of the United States was in Clay Township, southwest of...

, Pike County

Pike County, Indiana

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,837 people, 5,119 households, and 3,680 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people per square mile . There were 5,611 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. He began writing poetry in 1910. The first poem to establish him as a poet was his famous My Alligator Grin.

Richardson addressed the Indiana General Assembly on February 12, 1929, Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's Birthday, where he read his poem Lincoln, the Hoosier and was voted state poet laureate by the legislature. Richardson's state poet laureate honor was reaffirmed in 1965 after his death.

When Richardson would be asked for his autograph he would often sign it with the addition of a couplet

Couplet

A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...

 of his favorite original motto: "Let's trade grins, Then be frien's."

During his life he published eight books of poems, most popular being Indiana and Other Poems, Hoosier Holly-Hocks, and Turkey Run and Selected Poems.

Poems

• A-Beggin' Ma
• A Choice River
• A Deaf and Dumb Dance
• A Good Turn vs. A Fast One
• A Sad Circumstance
• Alpine Flowers
• Another Notch
• Boost Our Town
• The Boy Scouts
• The Builders
• Byers
• The Cardinal
• Cured O' Braggin'
• Dying At Home
• Eva
• The Exit of the Gourd
• Friendship
• Four-Line Philosophy

• Honored
• Indiana
• Indiana Authors
• Indiana's President
• In My Library
• Lincoln, the Hoosier
• Lincoln's Mother
• Luck Alone Won't Win
• Mutual Laughter
• My Alligator Grin
• The Oak
• Ol' Leiter's Ford
• Old New Harmony
• One Year
• Pawpaws
• Persimmons
• Petunias
• The Poets

• The Question
• The Remedy
• Retrospection
• Rev'rence for Law
• Roadside Beauties
• Sassafras Fence Posts
• Sassafras Tea
• The "School Marm"
• Shifts
• Thanksgiving Dinner
• Toddy Waddy
• The Torch Bearers
• Turkey Run
• Union
• The Wabash Bottoms
• We Clowns
• Well Done

Poetry Collections

• Indiana and Other Poems
• Hoosier Holly-Hocks
• Turkey Run and Selected Poems

Sources