Uploaded January 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the great James Whitcomb Riley The Hoosier poet from Greenfield Indiana USA who in his heyday was compared to Charles Dickens such was his popularity reading my favourite of his poems "The Raggedy Man" first published in 1890 the poem gets its title from the scruffily dressed German handy man his father employed to do jobs around the house. The term Raggedy Man was used commonly by children in Indiana at the time to describe the shabbily dressed men who found employment from wealthy householders as handy men. This lovely unforgeable little poem makes children of all of us who hear it,it is entrancing.
The Raggedy Man was a poem wrote by James Whitcomb Riley and first published in 1888. The poem was the inspiration for the Raggedy Ann doll, and two films by the same name. The poem is one of Riley's most famous and is based on a German tramp employed by his father during his youth.
James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 -- July 22, 1916) 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. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man".
Riley began his career writing verses as a sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to an endorsement from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the latter 1870s. Riley gradually rose in prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest, and then nationally, holding shows and making joint appearances on stage with other famous talents. Regularly struggling with his alcohol addiction, Riley never married or had children, and was involved in a scandal in 1888 when he became too drunk to perform. He became more popular in spite of the bad press he received, and as a result extricated himself from poorly negotiated contracts that limited his earnings; he quickly became very wealthy.
Riley became a bestselling author in the 1890s. His children's poems were compiled into a book and illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. Titled the Rhymes of Childhood, the book was his most popular and sold millions of copies. As a poet, Riley achieved an uncommon level of fame during his own lifetime. He was honored with annual Riley Day celebrations around the United States and was regularly called on to perform readings at national civic events. He continued to write and hold occasional poetry readings until a stroke paralyzed his right arm in 1910.
Although he was popular in his day, modern critics rate Riley as a minor poet, citing the quality of his work and his lack of serious subject matter as their reasons. Riley's chief legacy was his influence in fostering the creation of a midwestern cultural identity and his contributions to the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. Along with other writers of his era, he helped create a caricature of midwesterners and formed a literary community that produced works rivaling the established eastern literati. There are many memorials dedicated to Riley, including the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2017
Here's a virtual movie of the great James Whitcomb Riley The Hoosier poet from Greenfield Indiana USA who in his heyday was compared to Charles Dickens such was his popularity reading my favourite of his poems "The Raggedy Man" first published in 1890 the poem gets its title from the scruffily dressed German handy man his father employed to do jobs around the house. The term Raggedy Man was used commonly by children in Indiana at the time to describe the shabbily dressed men who found employment from wealthy householders as handy men. This lovely unforgeable little poem makes children of all of us who hear it,it is entrancing.
The Raggedy Man was a poem wrote by James Whitcomb Riley and first published in 1888. The poem was the inspiration for the Raggedy Ann doll, and two films by the same name. The poem is one of Riley's most famous and is based on a German tramp employed by his father during his youth.
James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 -- July 22, 1916) 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. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man".
Riley began his career writing verses as a sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to an endorsement from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the latter 1870s. Riley gradually rose in prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest, and then nationally, holding shows and making joint appearances on stage with other famous talents. Regularly struggling with his alcohol addiction, Riley never married or had children, and was involved in a scandal in 1888 when he became too drunk to perform. He became more popular in spite of the bad press he received, and as a result extricated himself from poorly negotiated contracts that limited his earnings; he quickly became very wealthy.
Riley became a bestselling author in the 1890s. His children's poems were compiled into a book and illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. Titled the Rhymes of Childhood, the book was his most popular and sold millions of copies. As a poet, Riley achieved an uncommon level of fame during his own lifetime. He was honored with annual Riley Day celebrations around the United States and was regularly called on to perform readings at national civic events. He continued to write and hold occasional poetry readings until a stroke paralyzed his right arm in 1910.
Although he was popular in his day, modern critics rate Riley as a minor poet, citing the quality of his work and his lack of serious subject matter as their reasons. Riley's chief legacy was his influence in fostering the creation of a midwestern cultural identity and his contributions to the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. Along with other writers of his era, he helped create a caricature of midwesterners and formed a literary community that produced works rivaling the established eastern literati. There are many memorials dedicated to Riley, including the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2017
