Joaquin Miller (1839–1913,) pseudonym of Cincinnatus Heine Miller, was an American poet and journalist whose best work conveys a sense of the Old West’s majesty and excitement.
Born in Liberty, Indiana, Miller became a miner in California and fought in the Indian wars. After attending Columbia College 1858–59, he practiced law in Oregon, and he edited a paper suppressed for showing Confederate sympathies. He was a county judge in Oregon 1866–70. After a brief time working as a Washington journalist, he settled in California in 1877 and became a fruit grower.
Miller’s poems include Songs of the Sierras (1871,) Songs of the Sunlands (1873,) The Ship in the Desert (1875,) The Baroness of New York (1877,) Songs of Italy (1878,) and Memorie and Rime (1884.) He also wrote a successful play, The Daniles of the Sierras (1877,) and his autobiography: My Life among the Modocs (1873) and My Own Story (new edition 1891.)
Miller is best known for his poem is “Columbus” with its refrain, “On, sail on!”—it is one of the best-known American poems, memorized and recited by schoolchildren. He is also remembered for his poetry in honor of “Burns and Byron.”
Journalist M. Marion Marberry wrote Splendid Poseur: Joaquin Miller, American Poet (1953.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Joaquin Miller
All honor to him who shall win the prize,
The world has cried for a thousand years;
But to him who tries and fails and dies,
I give great honor and glory and tears.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Failure
God’s poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Silence
In men whom men pronounce as ill I find so much of goodness still. In men whom men pronounce divine, I find so much of sin and blot; I hesitate to draw the line between the two, when God has not.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Man
Death is delightful. Death is dawn, the waking from a weary night of fevers unto truth and light.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Death, Dying
There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love, –
There is only one To-day.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Carpe-diem
He gives twice who gives quickly.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Gift
They sailed. They sailed. Then spoke the mate:
“This mad sea shows its teeth to-night
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave admiral, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?.”
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
“Sail on! sail on! and on!”
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Endurance, Resolve, Hope, Perseverance
Under the storm and the cloud today, and today the hard peril and pain—tomorrow the stone shall be rolled away, for the sunshine shall follow the rain.
—Joaquin Miller
Topics: Hope
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