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William Hughes Mearns

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William Hughes Mearns
Born(1875-09-28)28 September 1875
Philadelphia
Died13 March 1965(1965-03-13) (aged 89)
Bearsville, New York
SpouseMabel Gledhill Fagley
ChildrenEmma (Petra) Fagley

William Hughes Mearns (1875–1965), better known as Hughes Mearns, was an American educator and poet. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, Mearns was a professor at the Philadelphia School of Pedagogy from 1905 to 1920. Mearns is remembered now as the author of the poem "Antigonish" (or "The Little Man Who Wasn't There"). However, his ideas about encouraging the natural creativity of children, particularly those age 3 through 8 were novel at the time. It has been written about him that, "He typed notes of their conversations; he learned how to make them forget there was an adult around; never asked them questions and never showed surprise no matter what they did or said."[1]

Career

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Mearns wrote two influential books: Creative Youth 1925[2] and Creative Power 1929.[3] Essayist Gabriel Gudding credits those books with "[lighting] a fuse" under the teaching of creative writing, influencing a generation of scholars.[4]

He also served for a time (starting in 1920) as head of the Lincoln School Teachers College at Columbia University.[5] He was also a proponent of John Dewey's work in progressive education.[5]

Antigonish

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Main article: Antigonish (poem)

Mearns is credited with the well-known rhyme, composed in 1899 as a song for a play he had written, called The Psyco-ed.[6] The play was performed in 1910, and the poem was first published as "Antigonish" in 1922.

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
"Antigonish" (1899)[4]

Mearns also wrote many parodies of this poem, entitled Later Antigonishes, such as "Alibi":

As I was falling down the stair
I met a bump that wasn't there;
It might have put me on the shelf
Except I wasn't there myself.[7]

Other works

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  • Richard Richard. Illustrated by Ralph L Boyer. Philadelphia: Penn Publishing. 1916.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  • The Vinegar Saint. Illustrated by Ralph L Boyer. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company. 1919.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  • I Ride in My Coach. Illustrated by W T Schwartz. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Company. 1923.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Night Goblins. Illustrated by Ralph L. Boyer. 1923.[8]
  • Lions in the Way. Simon and Schuster. 1927.
  • The Creative Adult. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. 1940.

Personal Life

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William Hughes Mearns was born on 28 September 1875 in Philadelphia, the son of James H Mearns and Lelia Cora (née Evans).

On 22 December 1904 he married Mabel Gledhill Fagley at St Mark's Church, Phildalphia. They had a daughter, Emma (Petra) Fagley, born on 21 February 1907; she died on 13 October 2006.

William died on 13 March 1965 in Bearsville, New York.

References

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  1. ^ Current Biography 1940, pp. 570-72.[full citation needed]
  2. ^ Mearns, Hughes (1925). Creative Youth. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  3. ^ Mearns, Hughes (1929). Creative Power. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc.
  4. ^ a b "A fatal deafness to the disenchanted". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 November 2003.
  5. ^ a b "Writing in the age of email Composition in America".
  6. ^ Current Biography 1940, p. 571
  7. ^ Colombo, John Robert (2000). Ghost Stories of Canada, p.47. Dundurn. ISBN 9781550029758.
  8. ^ This book is listed as a carry-over from an earlier version of this article, but it has not been found in any library

Further reading

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  • Duff, John Carr (March 1966). "Hughes Mearns: Pioneer in Creative Education". The Clearing House. 40 (7): 419–421.
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