Frank Lebby Stanton
Encyclopedia
Frank Lebby Stanton—born February 22, 1857 in Charleston, South Carolina
, died January 7, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia
, and frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L. Stanton—was an American lyricist
.
He was also the initial columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and became the first poet laureate
of the State of Georgia
, a post to which he was appointed by Governor Clifford Walker
in 1925 and which Stanton held until his death.
soldier, and farmer) and his wife Catherine Rebecca Parry Stanton, whose father owned a plantation on Kiaweh Island, South Carolina
. From early childhood he was influenced by the hymns of Isaac Watts
and Charles Wesley
and was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South
. After starting school in Savannah, Georgia
, Frank Lebby Stanton found his education cut off by the American Civil War
. At age 12 he became apprenticed to work as a printer, a position which allowed him to enter the newspaper business. In 1887 he met Leone Josey while he was working for the Smithville News
; they married and, in 1888, moved to Rome, Georgia
, where Frank Lebby Stanton had received an offer from John Temple Graves to serve as night editor for the Rome Tribune.
With encouragement from Joel Chandler Harris
, Stanton in 1889 switched to the Atlanta Constitution (where for a few months he worked for Henry W. Grady
prior to Grady's death), and began to focus more on writing editorials and columns, a newspaper role which he filled from then until Stanton's death in 1927. Stanton's writing became quite popular and assiduously read. His column News from Billville (later Up from Georgia) forms the basis for claims that he was even the prototype for American newspaper columnists. Frank Lebby Stanton and Leone Josey Stanton were survived by their children—Marcelle Stanton Megahee and Frank Lebby Stanton Jr.
. Several of Stanton's ballads were set to music by Oley Speaks
. Possibly Stanton's most successful hit in popular music
was his lyrics for the wildly selling 1901 parlor song "Just Awearyin' for You
" for which Carrie Jacobs-Bond
provided the familiar tune. Cutgv
P
, Valdosta State University
, University of Rochester
(Eastman School of Music
), and Music Australia
.
On many occasions, leading to his selection as poet laureate, Stanton was called on to furnish poetry for occasions of state, one of them being the opening of Atlanta's Cotton States and International Exposition (1895)
. On 1916 February 23, the day after Stanton's 59th birthday, public schools throughout Georgia held commemorations of his achievements. Walker, in appointing Stanton Georgia's poet laureate, stated that no one had ever previously been appointed poet laureate of any southern state.
's James Whitcomb Riley
or called "the James Whitcomb Riley of the South
"; Stanton and Riley were close friends who frequently traded poetic ideas. Although Stanton frequently wrote in the dialect of black southerners and poor whites, he was an opponent of the less-admirable aspects (such as lynching
) of the culture in which he lived, and he tended to be compatible in philosophy with the southern progressivism of his employer, the Atlanta Constitution, for which he wrote editorials.
These and other characteristics of Stanton are well elaborated in the scholarly essays on him by Francis J. Bosha and Bruce M. Swain.
Shortly after his death Stanton was commemorated in the naming of the Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School, which, after the redesignation of a street name for its eponym still unborn at the time of Stanton's death, is at 1625 Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive in Atlanta.
Five items by Stanton appear in Edmund Clarence Stedman
's American Anthology 1787-1900, published in 1900:
One of Stanton's works most widely quoted during his lifetime was a quatrain titled "This World"; it is enscribed on his tombstone in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery
:
composer Harry Thacker Burleigh in the sheet music for his poem "Jean" (Burleigh composed and harmonized the tune). American composers of art songs
such as Ethelbert Nevin and Carrie Jacobs Bond wrote songs to his verses; composer Oley Speaks
also set at least four of his poems to music: "The Hills of Dawn", "In Maytime", "Morning", and "When Mabel Sings".
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, died January 7, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, and frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L. Stanton—was an American lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
.
He was also the initial columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and became the first poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
of the State of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, a post to which he was appointed by Governor Clifford Walker
Clifford Walker
Clifford Mitchell Walker was an American attorney and politician from the Southern state of Georgia.Walker served consecutive two-year terms as the 64th Governor of Georgia from 1923 to 1927...
in 1925 and which Stanton held until his death.
Eminence
Stanton was born to Valentine Stanton (a printer, ConfederateConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldier, and farmer) and his wife Catherine Rebecca Parry Stanton, whose father owned a plantation on Kiaweh Island, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. From early childhood he was influenced by the hymns of Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
and Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
and was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or Methodist Episcopal Church South, was the so-called "Southern Methodist Church" resulting from the split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church which had been brewing over several years until it came out into the open at a conference...
. After starting school in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, Frank Lebby Stanton found his education cut off by the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. At age 12 he became apprenticed to work as a printer, a position which allowed him to enter the newspaper business. In 1887 he met Leone Josey while he was working for the Smithville News
Smithville, Georgia
Smithville is a city in Lee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 774 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Smithville is located at ....
; they married and, in 1888, moved to Rome, Georgia
Rome, Georgia
Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Rome is the largest city and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Floyd County...
, where Frank Lebby Stanton had received an offer from John Temple Graves to serve as night editor for the Rome Tribune.
With encouragement from Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris was an American journalist, fiction writer, and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years...
, Stanton in 1889 switched to the Atlanta Constitution (where for a few months he worked for Henry W. Grady
Henry W. Grady
Henry Woodfin Grady was a journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the former Confederacy into the Union after the American Civil War....
prior to Grady's death), and began to focus more on writing editorials and columns, a newspaper role which he filled from then until Stanton's death in 1927. Stanton's writing became quite popular and assiduously read. His column News from Billville (later Up from Georgia) forms the basis for claims that he was even the prototype for American newspaper columnists. Frank Lebby Stanton and Leone Josey Stanton were survived by their children—Marcelle Stanton Megahee and Frank Lebby Stanton Jr.
Verse
Frank Lebby Stanton's verse is marked by simplicity and charm as well as sentimentality which was then en vogue. His poems include a number which he wrote in dialect, a challenge for which he had special knack, such as "Mighty Lak a Rose" (which was set to music by Ethelbert Nevin [1862-1901]). The music for "A Plantation Ditty" (first line "De gray owl sing fum de chimbly top") by Stanton was composed by Sidney HomerSidney Homer
Sidney Homer was a classical composer, primarily of songs.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 1864 , he was the youngest child of deaf parents. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Class of 1884, but did not attend college. He married contralto Louise Dilworth Beatty in 1895...
. Several of Stanton's ballads were set to music by Oley Speaks
Oley Speaks
Oley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
. Possibly Stanton's most successful hit in popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
was his lyrics for the wildly selling 1901 parlor song "Just Awearyin' for You
Just Awearyin' for You
"Just Awearyin' for You" is a parlor song, one of that genre's all-time hits.The lyrics were written by Frank Lebby Stanton and published in his Songs of the Soil . The tune was composed by Carrie Jacobs-Bond and published as part of Seven Songs as Unpretentious as the Wild Rose in 1901. Harry T...
" for which Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular sheet music from the 1890s through the early 1940s....
provided the familiar tune. Cutgv
P
Productivity
According to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), Stanton's writings include 171 items in 309 publications in 3 languages and 1,483 library holdings" (OCLC WorldCat hits). Collections of his work are listed by Connecticut State LibraryConnecticut State Library
The Connecticut State Library is the state library for the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is also an executive branch agency of the state. It is located in Hartford, Connecticut....
, Valdosta State University
Valdosta State University
Valdosta State University, also referred to as VSU, or Valdosta State, is an American public university and is one of the two regional universities in the University System of Georgia. Valdosta State is located on a campus at the heart of the city of Valdosta...
, University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
(Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
), and Music Australia
Music Australia
Music Australia is a free national online service hosted by the National Library of Australia in conjunction with over 50 cultural organisations across Australia. It was launched on 14 March 2005. It covers all types, styles and genres of Australian music, and showcases Australia’s musical culture...
.
On many occasions, leading to his selection as poet laureate, Stanton was called on to furnish poetry for occasions of state, one of them being the opening of Atlanta's Cotton States and International Exposition (1895)
Cotton States and International Exposition (1895)
The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. It is most remembered for the speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895....
. On 1916 February 23, the day after Stanton's 59th birthday, public schools throughout Georgia held commemorations of his achievements. Walker, in appointing Stanton Georgia's poet laureate, stated that no one had ever previously been appointed poet laureate of any southern state.
Legacy
Stanton has been frequently compared with IndianaIndiana
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...
's James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley
James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively...
or called "the James Whitcomb Riley of the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
"; Stanton and Riley were close friends who frequently traded poetic ideas. Although Stanton frequently wrote in the dialect of black southerners and poor whites, he was an opponent of the less-admirable aspects (such as lynching
Lynching in the United States
Lynching, the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action, occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Lynchings took place most frequently in the South from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in the annual toll in 1892.It is associated with...
) of the culture in which he lived, and he tended to be compatible in philosophy with the southern progressivism of his employer, the Atlanta Constitution, for which he wrote editorials.
These and other characteristics of Stanton are well elaborated in the scholarly essays on him by Francis J. Bosha and Bruce M. Swain.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
Drive in Atlanta.
Five items by Stanton appear in Edmund Clarence Stedman
Edmund Clarence Stedman
Edmund Clarence Stedman , American poet, critic, and essayist was born at Hartford, Connecticut, United States.-Biography:...
's American Anthology 1787-1900, published in 1900:
- "One Country" (Stedman's Item 1286)
- "A Plantation Ditty" (Stedman's Item 1287)
- "The Graveyard Rabbit" (Stedman's Item 1288)
- "The Mocking-Bird" (Stedman's Item 1289)
- "A Little Way" (Stedman's Item 1290)
One of Stanton's works most widely quoted during his lifetime was a quatrain titled "This World"; it is enscribed on his tombstone in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery
Westview Cemetery
Westview Cemetery, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the largest cemetery in the South East, comprising over , 50% of which is undeveloped. Westview includes the graves of more than 100,000 people.- History:...
:
- This world we're a'livin' in
- Is mighty hard to beat.
- You get a thorn with every rose.
- But ain't the roses sweet?
Musical settings of his poetry
Stanton collaborated with African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
composer Harry Thacker Burleigh in the sheet music for his poem "Jean" (Burleigh composed and harmonized the tune). American composers of art songs
American art song
The composition of art song in America began slowly in the Colonial and Federal periods, expanded greatly in the 19th century, and has become a distinguished and highly regarded addition to the classical music repertoire in the 20th and 21st centuries....
such as Ethelbert Nevin and Carrie Jacobs Bond wrote songs to his verses; composer Oley Speaks
Oley Speaks
Oley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
also set at least four of his poems to music: "The Hills of Dawn", "In Maytime", "Morning", and "When Mabel Sings".
External links
- "Morning" w. Frank Lebby Stanton & m. Oley SpeaksOley SpeaksOley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
as sung by Webster BoothWebster BoothLeslie Webster Booth , better known by his stage name, Webster Booth, was a British tenor. He is largely remembered today as the duettist partner of Anne Ziegler, but he was also one of the finest British tenors of his generation and was a distinguished oratorio soloist.He was a chorister at... - "Morning" w. Frank Lebby Stanton & m. Oley SpeaksOley SpeaksOley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
as sung by Tessa Folch - "Morning" w. Frank Lebby Stanton & m. Oley SpeaksOley SpeaksOley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
as sung by Jan PeerceJan PeerceJan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce.... - "Morning" w. Frank Lebby Stanton & m. Oley SpeaksOley SpeaksOley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
as sung by Eleanor SteberEleanor SteberEleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:... - "Morning" w. Frank Lebby Stanton & m. Oley SpeaksOley SpeaksOley Speaks was an accomplished composer and songwriter who was born in Canal Winchester, Franklin County, Ohio...
as sung by Richard TuckerRichard TuckerRichard Tucker was an American operatic tenor.-Early life:Tucker was born Rivn Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Romanian immigrants from Bessarabia. His father, Shmul Ticker, and mother Fanya-Tsipa Ticker had already adopted the surname "Tucker" by the time their son entered first...