Markham, Edwin (1852–1940)

US poet and editor. He became well-known when he published the social protest poem ‘The Man with the Hoe’ (1899), inspired by Jean-Francois Millet's painting. Another famous poem followed in ‘Lincoln, the Man of the People’ (1901). His Collected Poems appeared in 1940.

Markham was born in Oregon City, Oregon, and grew up in California. He moved to Staten Island, New York, after the success of his poetry, and spent the rest of his life writing and lecturing, but never again attaining the recognition he gained from these two poems. He studied briefly at Christian College in Santa Rosa, California, then taught in California (1875–1901).