1977 Notable Wisconsin Authors

Walter Agard
Horace Gregory
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Mark Schorer
Chad Walsh

Walter Agard, 1894-1978

Horace Gregory, 1898-1982

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1850-1919

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born November 5, 1850, in the village of Johnston, Rock County, Wisconsin. Her parents were Marcus H. Wheeler and Sarah Pratt Wheeler. They had three older children all born in Vermont.

In the spring of 1852 the Wheeler family settled in Dane County in the town of Westport, where Ella grew up, and where she made her reputation as a writer of poetry. She was educated at the district school, now named in her honor. She later attended the Wisconsin University for one term. While growing up she enjoyed horseback riding, dancing, visiting and dreaming. She was first published at 14. When she was 22 years old her volume entitled “shells” containing 119 poems was published and she had more than 175 poems published. In 1884 she married Robert Wilcox and moved to Connecticut. After her marriage she continued to write not only poetry but did a great deal of prose writing as well.

A number of her essays are specifically on New Thought themes and she was strongly drawn to Spiritualism and Indian thought.

She died on October 30, 1919 at her home in Short Beach, Connecticut.

Selected Readings
The Heart of New Thought
The Story of a Literary Career
Everyday Thoughts in Prose and Verse
Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels
Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Poems of Power
Sonnets of Sorrow and Triumph
Poems of Pleasure
Ambitious Man
Kingdom of Love and How Salvator Won

Mark Schorer, 1908-1977

Mark Schorer was born in 1908. After earning his Ph.D. in 1936 at Wisconsin, he held positions at Dartmouth and Harvard (1936-1940) and for another five years at Harvard as Briggs-Copeland faculty instructor. He then joined the University of Berkeley faculty as Associate Professor of English. He was already a widely known writer, author of two novels and of short stories, essays and reviews in journals and magazines.

He is an author and teacher with many accomplishments. In 1952 he was a Fulbright fellow in Italy and again in 1964 and 1967. He was the recipient of Guggenheim Memorial Fellowships for times in 1941, 1942, 1948 and 1973. In 1961 he won the Commonwealth Club Gold Medal Award; a D.Litt. from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; admission to the Institute of Arts and Letters. He received the Distinguished Service Citation from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in 1969. From 1962 to 1966 he served on the executive council of the Modern Language Association and on the board of directors of the American Council of Learned Societies from 1970 to 1972. An esteemed Professor, he maintained an active career as a scholar.

Upon his death in 1977 he was survived by his wife Ruth, a son Page and a daughter Suki.

Selected Readings
William Blake: The Politics of Vision, 1946
Technique as Discovery, 1948
State of Mind, 1946
Wars of Love, 1954
Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, 1961
The World We Imagine, 1968
Pieces of Life, 1977

Chad Walsh, 1914-1991