Mortal Refrains: The Complete Collected Poetry, Prose, and Songs of Julia A. Moore, The Sweet Singer of Michigan [Paperback]

Thomas J. Riedlinger (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 1998

In the late 1870s, this gifted writer of hilarious, bad verse had a national following. Mark Twain even wrote that he always carried with him a copy of Julia’s first book of poems, The Sentimental Song Book (1876). "I find in them the same grace and melody that attracted me when they were first published twenty years ago, and have held me in happy bonds ever since," he explained. Twain attributed the "deep charm" of Julia’s poems to her innocent habit of making "an intentionally humorous episode pathetic and an intentionally pathetic one funny." Twain immortalized Julia’s style in the writings of Emmeline Grangerford, a character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
     She also influenced the writing—in fact, the career— of the doggerel poet Ogden Nash, who reportedly said that her example convinced him to try to become "a great bad poet" rather than "a bad good poet." The late Walter Blair, a highly respected professor of American literature at the University of Chicago, put it like this in his introduction to the last published collection of Julia’s poems in 1928:

If these songs [as Julia called her poems] were only a little closer to the conventional modes of meter, rhyme, thought, and expression they would not impress us at all. Touched, however, by the magic wand of genius, the novel works of this great poet cause readers to slump down in their chairs, hold their agitated and aching sides, wipe tears from brimming eyes, and fill the air with the sound of distinctly raucous laughter.

     Mortal Refrains is the first complete, published collection of Julia Moore’s work —poetry, short stories, songs (including sheet music), and newspaper interviews—compiled from the earliest published versions found in various public libraries, rare book collections, museums, and archives.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas J. Riedlinger is a writer and lecturer based in Olympia, Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press (May 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870134493
• ISBN-13: 978-0870134494
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,853,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, Come and See What You Can Hear!, June 27, 2000

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This review is from: Mortal Refrains: The Complete Collected Poetry, Prose, and Songs of Julia A. Moore, The Sweet Singer of Michigan (Paperback)

Primitive and patriotic, sentimental and silly, and lacking in grammar, rhythm, and rhyme, the work of "the Sweet Singer of Michigan" is often laugh-out-loud funny. Julia Moore's most famous couplet runs: "Come all you people from far and near,/ Oh, come and see what you can hear." Little of her work ever rises above that level-- but what makes this homespun Homer especially thrilling is she's always sincere, oblivious to her lack of talent. She's like a found-object guest on the Letterman show, or a nineteenth-century Ed Wood: she's the only one who isn't in on the joke she's telling herself. Most of Moore's poems are occasional pieces inspired by newspaper articles on subjects as diverse as politics, plagues, and temperance, and many are set to popular ballads of the day. Her greatest inspiration, however, came from the obituary pages. Even among Victorians she is notable for the degree to which she could get worked up over the death of a total stranger. Her influence was vast. Mark Twain parodied her loopy sentimentality; Ogden Nash imitated her penchant for forced rhymes and missed beats. The difference is that Twain and Nash intended their comic effects: poor Julia's were accidental, and she was understandably upset when at long last she realized people were laughing at her. "Like Herman Melville," one critic observed in 1928, Moore retreated into silence for many years after reading too many unflattering reviews. All praise is due Thomas Riedlinger for preserving Moore's work for a new generation of readers. It's awful-- in every sense of the word.