Joaquin Miller
Encyclopedia
Joaquin Miller was the pen name
of the colorful American poet Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller (September 8, 1837 - February 17, 1913), nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras".
, Indiana
. On September 8, 1837, their son Cincinnatus Hiner Miller was born near Liberty, Indiana. Miller later changed his birth date to 1841 and said he was born on a wagon going west while in Millersville, Indiana, a town he claimed was founded by his father. He also changed the date of his birth to November 10 for unknown reasons. While a young boy, the Miller family moved to Oregon and settled in the Willamette Valley
, establishing a farm in what would become Lane County
. Accounts differ, giving the family's move to Oregon as early as 1842, but it was probably between 1850 and 1852.
As a young man, he moved to northern California
during the California Gold Rush
years, and had a variety of adventures, including spending a year living in a Native American
village, and being wounded in a battle with Native Americans. A number of his popular works, Life Amongst the Modocs, An Elk Hunt, and The Battle of Castle Crags
, draw on these experiences. He was wounded in the cheek and neck with an arrow during this latter battle, recuperating at the Gold Rush-era mining town of Portuguese Flat
.
after they killed a white man on Pit River
. Years later, he claimed that he had sided with the Native Americans and was run out of town for it. About 1857, Miller supposedly married an Indian woman named Paquita (she may have been a Modoc
Indian, and the relationship was probably that of a "country wife") and lived in the McCloud River
area of northern California; the couple had two children born in California or Oregon. Spending a short time in the mining camps of northern Idaho, Miller found his way to Canyon City
, Oregon by 1864 where he was elected the third Judge of Grant County
. His old cabin in Canyon City is still standing.
Miller's exploits included a variety of occupations: mining-camp cook (who came down with scurvy
from only eating what he cooked), lawyer and a judge, newspaper writer, Pony Express
rider, and horse thief. On July 10, 1859, Miller was caught stealing a horse gelding valued at $80, a saddle worth $15, and other items. He was jailed briefly in Shasta County
for the crime, and various accounts give other incidents of his repeating this crime in California and Oregon.
Miller earned an estimated $3,000 working as a Pony Express rider, and used the money to move to Oregon. With the help of his friend, Senator Joseph Lane
, he became editor of the Democratic Register in Eugene
, a role he held from March 15 to September 20, 1862. Though no copies survive, it was known as sympathetic to the Confederacy
until it was forced to shut down. That year, Miller married Theresa Dyer (alias Minnie Myrtle) on September 12, 1862, in her home four days after meeting her in Port Orford
, Oregon. He had corresponded with her after exchanging poems with her for critique and chasing away a competing suitor. The couple had two children.
In 1868, Miller paid for the publication of 500 copies his first book of poetry, Specimens. It was unnoticed and Miller gave away more copies than he sold. Few have survived. The author's despair and disappointment was reflected in his second book, Joaquin et al., the next year.
Dyer filed for divorce on April 4, 1870, claiming they had a third child, Henry Mark, the year before and that Miller was "wholly" neglectful. The court declared them divorced on April 19 and Dyer was granted custody of the baby while the two older children were left in the care of her mother. Miller was ordered to pay $200 per year in child support. Miller believed the divorce prevented him from being nominated for a seat on the Oregon Supreme Court
. He never denied her charges that he was neglectful of her and their children and was rarely home. He also may have had an affair with actress Adah Isaacs Menken
shortly into the marriage.
, who offered advice that he avoid "faults of excess" and encouragingly wrote, "you on your way to become a poet." The next summer, July 1870, Miller traveled to San Francisco with borrowed money and there befriended Charles Warren Stoddard
and Ina Coolbrith
. Stoddard was the first to meet him at the dock and, as he recalled, Miller's first words to him were, "Well, let us go and talk with the poets."
Miller went to England, where he was celebrated as a frontier oddity. There, in May 1871, Miller published Songs of the Sierras, the book which finalized his nickname as the "Poet of the Sierras". It was well-received by the British press and members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti
and William Michael Rossetti
.
While in England, he was one of the few Americans invited into the Savage Club
along with Julian Hawthorne
, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne
. The younger Hawthorne referred to Miller as "a licensed libertine" but admitted him "charming, amiable, and harmless". Rather abruptly, Miller left England in September 1871 and landed in New York. At the encouragement of family, he made his way to Easton, Pennsylvania
to visit his brother on his death-bed before returning to Oregon; his father died shortly thereafter. Miller eventually settled in California, where he grew fruit and published his poems and other works.
In 1877, Miller adapted his First Fam'lies of the Sierras into a play, The Danites, or, the Heart of the Sierras. It opened on August 22 in New York with McKee Rankin as the main character. The anti-Mormon
play, which featured Danite
s hunting the daughter of one of the murderers of Joseph Smith, Jr., became one of the most commercially successful in a series of anti-Mormon dramas at the time. The Spirit of the Times
, however, attributed its success to curious audience members expected a disastrous failure and instead discovering a good show: "The play proved to possess more than ordinary merit, and if it is not a great work, it is decidedly not a very bad one." The Danites was extended from a run of only a few days to one of seven straight weeks before moving to another theatre and, ultimately, was performed to such a degree that it rivaled the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin
. It was published in book form later in 1877. Miller later admitted that he regretted the anti-Mormon tone.
Miller married for a third time on September 8, 1879, Abigail Leland, in New York, New York.
Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
came to The Hights in 1894 and spent the next four years there as an unpaid laborer in exchange for room and board. While living there, he published his first book, Seen or Unseen; or, Monologues of a Homeless Snail (1897). Though he referred to Miller as "the most natural man", Noguchi reflected on those years as his most difficult in the United States and later fictionalized his experience in The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
.
In 1897, Miller traveled to the Yukon
as a newspaper correspondent. He saw Alaska
for the first time on July 30. His dispatches, many of which were written before reaching Alaska, incorrectly implied an easy and inexpensive trip. Miller himself nearly froze to death; two toes were lost to frostbite
.
Miller died on February 17, 1913, surrounded by friends and family. His last words were recorded as "Take me away; take me away!" The poet had asked to be cremated by friends in the funeral pyre he built at The Hights with no religious ceremony and without being embalmed. His wishes were mostly ignored and the funeral on February 19 drew thousands of curious onlookers. The preacher who spoke referred to Miller as "the last of America's great poets." On May 23, members of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco and the Press Club returned to Miller's funeral pyre to burn the urn which contained his ashes, allowing them to scatter. He had left no will
and his estate — estimated at $100,000 — was divided between his wife and daughter.
and Ambrose Bierce
. Bierce, who once called Miller "the greatest-hearted man I ever knew" also is quoted as saying that he was "the greatest liar this country ever produced. He cannot, or will not, tell the truth." Miller's response was, "I always wondered why God made Bierce."
Called the "Poet of the Sierras" and the "Byron of the Rockies", he may have been more of a celebrity in England than in his native U.S. Much of his reputation, however, came not from his poetry but from the image he created for himself by capitalizing on the stereotypical image of Western frontiersmen. As poet Bayard Taylor
bitterly noted in 1876, British audiences "place the simulated savagery of Joaquin Miller beside the pure and serene muse of Longfellow
." Critics made much of Miller's poor spelling and rhymes; he once rhymed "Goethe
" and "teeth". Henry Cuyler Bunner
satirized the error in a poem titled "Shake, Mulleary
, and Go-ethe". Miller himself once admitted, "I'm damned if I could tell the difference between a hexameter
and a pentameter
to save my scalp."
The Westminster Review
referred to Miller's poetry as "Whitman
without the coarseness". For a time, Miller's poem "Columbus" was one of the most widely known American poems, memorized and recited by legions of schoolchildren. Miller is remembered today, among other reasons, for lines from his poem in honor of "Burns and Byron":
Joaquin Miller Cabin
is located in Washington, DC. The Hights, the Oakland home Miller built at the end of his life, is currently known as the Joaquin Miller House
and is part of Joaquin Miller Park
. He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre
and monuments dedicated to Moses
, General John C. Frémont
, and the poets Robert Browning
and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
. The Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
began his literary career while living in the cabin adjoining Millers' during the latter half of the 1890s. The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919 and can be found in Joaquin Miller Park. It is now a designated California Historical Landmark
.
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of the colorful American poet Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller (September 8, 1837 - February 17, 1913), nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras".
Early years and family
His parents were Hulen (sometimes "Hulings") Miller and Margaret Witt who married January 3, 1836 in Union CountyUnion County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,349 people, 2,793 households, and 2,072 families residing in the county. The population density was 46 people per square mile . There were 3,077 housing units at an average density of 19 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...
. On September 8, 1837, their son Cincinnatus Hiner Miller was born near Liberty, Indiana. Miller later changed his birth date to 1841 and said he was born on a wagon going west while in Millersville, Indiana, a town he claimed was founded by his father. He also changed the date of his birth to November 10 for unknown reasons. While a young boy, the Miller family moved to Oregon and settled in the Willamette Valley
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...
, establishing a farm in what would become Lane County
Lane County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge *Siuslaw National Forest *Umpqua National Forest *Willamette National Forest -Government:...
. Accounts differ, giving the family's move to Oregon as early as 1842, but it was probably between 1850 and 1852.
As a young man, he moved to northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
during the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
years, and had a variety of adventures, including spending a year living in a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
village, and being wounded in a battle with Native Americans. A number of his popular works, Life Amongst the Modocs, An Elk Hunt, and The Battle of Castle Crags
Castle Crags
Castle Crags is a dramatic and well-known rock formation in Northern California. Although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of rocks of volcanic and sedimentary origin, granite bodies intruded many parts of the area during the Jurassic period...
, draw on these experiences. He was wounded in the cheek and neck with an arrow during this latter battle, recuperating at the Gold Rush-era mining town of Portuguese Flat
Portuguese Flat, California
Portuguese Flat was a California mining camp of the early 1850s during the California Gold Rush, consisting largely of Portuguese miners. It was located about 35 miles north of Redding, California near what is currently now the unincorporated community of Pollard Flat...
.
Wanderings and early writings
In the spring of 1857, Miller took part in an expedition against the Pit River TribePit River Tribe
The Pit River Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of eleven bands of indigenous peoples of California. They primarily live along the Pit River in the northeast corner of California...
after they killed a white man on Pit River
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S...
. Years later, he claimed that he had sided with the Native Americans and was run out of town for it. About 1857, Miller supposedly married an Indian woman named Paquita (she may have been a Modoc
Modoc
The Modoc are a Native American people who originally lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. They are currently divided between Oregon and Oklahoma. The latter are a federally recognized tribe, the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma...
Indian, and the relationship was probably that of a "country wife") and lived in the McCloud River
McCloud River
The McCloud River is a river that flows east of and parallel to the Sacramento River, long, in northern California in the United States. It drains a scenic mountainous area of the Cascade Range north of Redding...
area of northern California; the couple had two children born in California or Oregon. Spending a short time in the mining camps of northern Idaho, Miller found his way to Canyon City
Canyon City, Oregon
Canyon City is a city in Grant County, Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Grant County, and is about a mile south of John Day on U.S. Highway 395. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 703.-History:...
, Oregon by 1864 where he was elected the third Judge of Grant County
Grant County, Oregon
Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. In 2010, its population was 7,445. It is named for President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as an army officer in the Oregon Territory, and at the time of the county's creation...
. His old cabin in Canyon City is still standing.
Miller's exploits included a variety of occupations: mining-camp cook (who came down with scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
from only eating what he cooked), lawyer and a judge, newspaper writer, Pony Express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...
rider, and horse thief. On July 10, 1859, Miller was caught stealing a horse gelding valued at $80, a saddle worth $15, and other items. He was jailed briefly in Shasta County
Shasta County, California
Shasta County is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The county occupies the northern reaches of the Sacramento Valley, with portions extending into the southern reaches of the Cascade Range. As of the 2010 census, the population was 177,223, up from 163,256...
for the crime, and various accounts give other incidents of his repeating this crime in California and Oregon.
Miller earned an estimated $3,000 working as a Pony Express rider, and used the money to move to Oregon. With the help of his friend, Senator Joseph Lane
Joseph Lane
Joseph Lane was an American general during the Mexican-American War and a United States Senator from Oregon.-Early life:...
, he became editor of the Democratic Register in Eugene
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
, a role he held from March 15 to September 20, 1862. Though no copies survive, it was known as sympathetic to the Confederacy
Confederate 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...
until it was forced to shut down. That year, Miller married Theresa Dyer (alias Minnie Myrtle) on September 12, 1862, in her home four days after meeting her in Port Orford
Port Orford, Oregon
Port Orford is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It is on the southern Oregon Coast, at the northern end of what coastal Oregonians call the Banana Belt, because the weather from Port Orford south is noticeably warmer than the weather north of nearby Cape Blanco...
, Oregon. He had corresponded with her after exchanging poems with her for critique and chasing away a competing suitor. The couple had two children.
In 1868, Miller paid for the publication of 500 copies his first book of poetry, Specimens. It was unnoticed and Miller gave away more copies than he sold. Few have survived. The author's despair and disappointment was reflected in his second book, Joaquin et al., the next year.
Dyer filed for divorce on April 4, 1870, claiming they had a third child, Henry Mark, the year before and that Miller was "wholly" neglectful. The court declared them divorced on April 19 and Dyer was granted custody of the baby while the two older children were left in the care of her mother. Miller was ordered to pay $200 per year in child support. Miller believed the divorce prevented him from being nominated for a seat on the Oregon Supreme Court
Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, Oregon, near the capitol...
. He never denied her charges that he was neglectful of her and their children and was rarely home. He also may have had an affair with actress Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken was an American actress, painter and poet.-Life and career:There are significant inconsistencies in the various accounts of Menken's early life. In her autobiographical "Some Notes of her life in her own Hand,", Menken claimed she was born Marie Rachel Adelaide de Vere Spenser...
shortly into the marriage.
Travels
Miller had sent a copy of Joaquin, et al. to Bret HarteBret Harte
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
, who offered advice that he avoid "faults of excess" and encouragingly wrote, "you on your way to become a poet." The next summer, July 1870, Miller traveled to San Francisco with borrowed money and there befriended Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard was an American author and editor.-Life and works:Charles Warren Stoddard was born in Rochester, New York on August 7, 1843. He was descended in a direct line from Anthony Stoddard of England, who settled at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1639...
and Ina Coolbrith
Ina Coolbrith
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community...
. Stoddard was the first to meet him at the dock and, as he recalled, Miller's first words to him were, "Well, let us go and talk with the poets."
Miller went to England, where he was celebrated as a frontier oddity. There, in May 1871, Miller published Songs of the Sierras, the book which finalized his nickname as the "Poet of the Sierras". It was well-received by the British press and members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
and William Michael Rossetti
William Michael Rossetti
William Michael Rossetti was an English writer and critic.-Biography:Born in London, he was a son of immigrant Italian scholar Gabriele Rossetti, and the brother of Maria Francesca Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Georgina Rossetti.He was one of the seven founder members of the...
.
While in England, he was one of the few Americans invited into the Savage Club
Savage Club
The Savage Club, founded in 1857 is a gentlemen's club in London.-History:Many and varied are the stories that have been told about the first meeting of the Savage Club, of the precise purposes for which it was formed, and of its christening...
along with Julian Hawthorne
Julian Hawthorne
Julian Hawthorne was an American writer and journalist, the son of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody. He wrote numerous poems, novels, short stories, mystery/detective fiction, essays, travel books, biographies and histories...
, son of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
. The younger Hawthorne referred to Miller as "a licensed libertine" but admitted him "charming, amiable, and harmless". Rather abruptly, Miller left England in September 1871 and landed in New York. At the encouragement of family, he made his way to Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....
to visit his brother on his death-bed before returning to Oregon; his father died shortly thereafter. Miller eventually settled in California, where he grew fruit and published his poems and other works.
In 1877, Miller adapted his First Fam'lies of the Sierras into a play, The Danites, or, the Heart of the Sierras. It opened on August 22 in New York with McKee Rankin as the main character. The anti-Mormon
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
play, which featured Danite
Danite
The Danites were a fraternal organization founded by Latter Day Saint members in June 1838, in the town of Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri. During their period of organization in Missouri, the Danites operated as a vigilante group and took a central role in the events of the 1838 Mormon War...
s hunting the daughter of one of the murderers of Joseph Smith, Jr., became one of the most commercially successful in a series of anti-Mormon dramas at the time. The Spirit of the Times
Spirit of the Times
The Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Agriculture, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage was an American weekly newspaper published in New York City. The paper aimed for an upper-class readership made up largely of sportsmen. The Spirit also included humorous material, much of it based...
, however, attributed its success to curious audience members expected a disastrous failure and instead discovering a good show: "The play proved to possess more than ordinary merit, and if it is not a great work, it is decidedly not a very bad one." The Danites was extended from a run of only a few days to one of seven straight weeks before moving to another theatre and, ultimately, was performed to such a degree that it rivaled the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Tom Shows
Tom Shows were stage plays and musicals based on the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel depicts the harsh reality of slavery...
. It was published in book form later in 1877. Miller later admitted that he regretted the anti-Mormon tone.
Miller married for a third time on September 8, 1879, Abigail Leland, in New York, New York.
Later years and death
In 1886, Miller published The Destruction of Gotham, a book which was one of the earliest to depict a prostitute as a heroine. That year, he moved to Oakland, California, and built a home for himself he called "The Hights". He remained there until his death in 1913.Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya...
came to The Hights in 1894 and spent the next four years there as an unpaid laborer in exchange for room and board. While living there, he published his first book, Seen or Unseen; or, Monologues of a Homeless Snail (1897). Though he referred to Miller as "the most natural man", Noguchi reflected on those years as his most difficult in the United States and later fictionalized his experience in The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl is the first English novel published in the United States by a person of Japanese ancestry. Acquired for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Monthly Magazine by editor Ellery Sedgwick in 1901, it appeared in two excerpted installments in November and December of that...
.
In 1897, Miller traveled to the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
as a newspaper correspondent. He saw Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
for the first time on July 30. His dispatches, many of which were written before reaching Alaska, incorrectly implied an easy and inexpensive trip. Miller himself nearly froze to death; two toes were lost to frostbite
Frostbite
Frostbite is the medical condition where localized damage is caused to skin and other tissues due to extreme cold. Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts farthest from the heart and those with large exposed areas...
.
Miller died on February 17, 1913, surrounded by friends and family. His last words were recorded as "Take me away; take me away!" The poet had asked to be cremated by friends in the funeral pyre he built at The Hights with no religious ceremony and without being embalmed. His wishes were mostly ignored and the funeral on February 19 drew thousands of curious onlookers. The preacher who spoke referred to Miller as "the last of America's great poets." On May 23, members of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco and the Press Club returned to Miller's funeral pyre to burn the urn which contained his ashes, allowing them to scatter. He had left no will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
and his estate — estimated at $100,000 — was divided between his wife and daughter.
Critical response and reputation
Miller was championed, although not enthusiastically, by Bret HarteBret Harte
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
and Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
. Bierce, who once called Miller "the greatest-hearted man I ever knew" also is quoted as saying that he was "the greatest liar this country ever produced. He cannot, or will not, tell the truth." Miller's response was, "I always wondered why God made Bierce."
Called the "Poet of the Sierras" and the "Byron of the Rockies", he may have been more of a celebrity in England than in his native U.S. Much of his reputation, however, came not from his poetry but from the image he created for himself by capitalizing on the stereotypical image of Western frontiersmen. As poet Bayard Taylor
Bayard Taylor
Bayard Taylor was an American poet, literary critic, translator, and travel author.-Life and work:...
bitterly noted in 1876, British audiences "place the simulated savagery of Joaquin Miller beside the pure and serene muse of Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
." Critics made much of Miller's poor spelling and rhymes; he once rhymed "Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
" and "teeth". Henry Cuyler Bunner
Henry Cuyler Bunner
Henry Cuyler Bunner was an American novelist and poet.-Biography:Henry Cuyler Bunner born in Oswego, New York and was educated in New York City. From being a clerk in an importing house, he turned to journalism, and after some work as a reporter, and on the staff of The Arcadian , he became in...
satirized the error in a poem titled "Shake, Mulleary
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, and Go-ethe". Miller himself once admitted, "I'm damned if I could tell the difference between a hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
and a pentameter
Pentameter
Pentameter may refer to:*the iambic pentameter of the modern period*the dactylic pentameter of antiquity...
to save my scalp."
The Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
referred to Miller's poetry as "Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
without the coarseness". For a time, Miller's poem "Columbus" was one of the most widely known American poems, memorized and recited by legions of schoolchildren. Miller is remembered today, among other reasons, for lines from his poem in honor of "Burns and Byron":
- In men whom men condemn as ill
- I find so much of goodness still.
- In men whom men pronounce divine
- I find so much of sin and blot
- I do not dare to draw a line
- Between the two, where God has not.
Legacy
Joaquin Miller Cabin
The Joaquin Miller Cabin is an historic structure situated in Washington, DC's Rock Creek Park. Built by the American poet, essayist and fabulist Joaquin Miller, it represents the only known example of late 19th century Rustic-style log cabin in Washington, D.C...
is located in Washington, DC. The Hights, the Oakland home Miller built at the end of his life, is currently known as the Joaquin Miller House
Joaquin Miller House
Joaquin Miller House, also known as The Abbey and The Hights, in Oakland, California, United States was the home of poet Joaquin Miller.-Joaquin Miller:...
and is part of Joaquin Miller Park
Joaquin Miller Park
Joaquin Miller Park is a large open space park in the Oakland Hills owned and operated by the city of Oakland, California. It was named after early California writer and poet Joaquin Miller, who lived here in his house "The Hights", now preserved as the Joaquin Miller House.-Park:The park's are...
. He planted the surrounding trees and he personally built, on the eminence to the north, his own funeral pyre
Funeral Pyre
"Funeral Pyre" is The Jam's thirteenth single released on 6 June 1981. Backed by the B-side "Disguises", a cover of a Who track, it reached #4 in the UK Singles chart....
and monuments dedicated to Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, General John C. Frémont
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...
, and the poets Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...
. The Japanese poet Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi
Yone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya...
began his literary career while living in the cabin adjoining Millers' during the latter half of the 1890s. The Hights was purchased by the city of Oakland in 1919 and can be found in Joaquin Miller Park. It is now a designated California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmark
California Historical Landmarks are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical significance by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below:...
.
List of works
- Specimens (1868)
- Joaquin et al. (1869)
- Pacific Poems (1871)
- Songs of the Sierras (1871)
- Songs of the Sun-Lands (1873)
- Life Amongst the Modocs (1873)
- Arizonian (1874)
- First Fam'lies of the Sierras (1875–76)
- The One Fair Woman (1876)
- The Baroness of New York (1877)
- The Danites (1878)
- Songs of Italy (1878)
- The Destruction of Gotham (1886)
- Songs of the Soul (1896)
- True Bear Stories (1900)
- Chants for the Boer (1900)
- The Complete Poetical Works of Joaquin Miller (1902)
- As It Was in the Beginning (1903)
- The Building of the City Beautiful (1905)
- Light: A Narrative Poem (1907)
- Joaquin Miller's Poems (1909–1910)
- The Danites in the Sierras (1910)
- 49: The Gold-Seekers of the Sierras (1910)
- An Elk Hunt
- The Battle of Castle Crags
External links
- Bibliography of Joaquin Miller
- Chronology of Miller's life
- Biography from Literary Traveler
- Guide to the Joaquin Miller Papers at The Bancroft Library
- Joaquin Miller Park
- Poem by Miller in the Mount Shasta Collection
- 1905 Magazine Article with photos