Brian McAllister, Albany State University, Georgia, USA
Abstract
Vachel Lindsay’s fame was made, and ultimately ruined, by his performances of his “Higher Vaudeville” poems. This essay discusses the performance of the Higher Vaudeville in light of ideas of the New Elocution movement of the early twentieth century which influenced Lindsay’s technique. Lindsay conceived these poems as elements of a performance medium. Ironically, some of the New Elocution ideas were indurated by the New Criticism, which discounted performance as constitutive of poetic meaning and led to Lindsay’s critical dismissal. A consideration of the Higher Vaudeville as performance argues that Lindsay’s achievement warrants critical reassessment. Keep Reading
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