Sidney Lanier, another famous Southern musician and poet, fought in the War for Southern Independence, mostly in the tidewater region of Virginia, where he was first in the Signal Corps.
Later, he and his brother Clifford served as pilots aboard English blockade runners. On one of these runs, his ship was boarded and he was captured. He was incarcerated in a military prison in Maryland, where he contracted tuberculosis (called "consumption" at the time). He died from it at age 39.
He is of special interest to me because I graduated from Sidney Lanier High School here in Montgomery, and also because his niece was my aunt by marriage, Mary Seibels Lanier Branch. Her father was Sidney's brother, Clifford.
His most famous body of poetry was probably "The Marshes of Glynn". The Poems of Sidney Lanier can be ordered on Amazon. He also wrote "The Boy's King Arthur" A friend told me yesterday that she is writing an historical novel of his life. I can hardly wait to order it!
No comments:
Post a Comment