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Michael McGovern (1848-1933). Courtesy Mahoning Valley Historical Society & Wikipedia.
Michael McGovern (1848-1933) was a working-class American poet who gained national recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Life[]
McGovern was born in Castlerea, co. Roscommon, Ireland.
He emigrated to England and then to the United States. He eventually settled in Youngstown, Ohio, with his wife, the former Anne Murphy, and secured work in the local steel mills.
McGovern rose to the position of puddler, a skilled laborer responsible for converting pig iron into wrought iron by removing impurities.
In 1899, McGovern secured national celebrity with the publication of Labor Lyrics, and other poems. He went on to author a popular newspaper column in the Youngstown Daily Vindicator.
He was widely known as "the Puddler Poet", and his work reflected his support of labor unions.[1]
Michael McGovern (1848-1933), Labor Lyrics, and other poems, 1899. Courtesy Mahoning Valley History.
Writing[]
McGovern's poems fall into 3 basic categories: rolling mill rhymes, labor growls and miscellaneous trifles, and amorous verses "to show that a rolling mill man has a heart as susceptible to the purest motives of love as those who have millions wherewith to purchase a title".[1]
Some scholars have argued that McGovern's work, which features religious themes, shows the influence of the Social Gospel movement. This intellectual movement drew sharp connections between social justice causes and the teachings of the New Testament.[1]
Publications[]
THE WORKINGMAN'S SONG
Poetry[]
- Labor Lyrics, and other poems. Youngstown, OH: Vindicator Press, 1899.[2]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rev. Darren Cushman Wood, "Radicals, Revivalists, and Reformers: The Heritage of Labor and Religion in the United States", Division of Labor Studies, Indiana University, September 4, 2002.
- ↑ Labor lyrics and other poems, WorldCat. Web, Mar. 18, 2013.
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Workingman on the Dinner-Pail" at the Center for Working-Class Studies
- About
- The Puddler Poet, Manhoning Valley History blog
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