When Day Is Done

by Edgar A. Guest

Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959) (aka Eddie Guest) was a prolific American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People's Poet. After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared 1898. For 40 years, Guest was widely read throughout North America, and his sentimental, optimistic poems were in the same vein as the light verse of Nick Kenny, who wrote syndicated columns during the same decades. From his first published work in the Detroit Free Press until his death in 1959, Guest penned some 11,000 poems which were collected in more than 20 books, including A Heap O' Livin' (1916) and Just Folks (1917). Guest was made Poet Laureate of Michigan, the only poet to have been awarded the title. His other works include: Over Here (1918), The Path to Home (1919), When Day is Done (1921) and Making the House a Home (1922).

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

The family of Edgar Albert Guest settled in Detroit, Michigan, in 1891. When his father lost his job in 1893, eleven-year-old Edgar between working odd jobs after school. In 1895, the Detroit Free Press hired him as a copy boy, and he worked for the newspaper for almost sixty-five years. Death of the father compelled the seventeen-year-old poet to drop out high school and to work full time at the newspaper. From copy boy, he worked his way to a job in the news department. His first poem appeared on 11 December 1898. His weekly column, "Chaff," first appeared in 1904; his topical verses eventually became the daily "Breakfast Table Chat," which was syndicated to over three-hundred newspapers throughout the United States.

Guest married Nellie Crossman in 1906. The couple had three children. His brother Harry printed his first two books, Home Rhymes and Just Glad Things, in small editions. His verse quickly found an audience and the Chicago firm of Reilly and Britton began to publish his books at a rate of nearly one per year. His collections include Just Folks (1917), Over Here (1918), When Day Is Done (1921), The Passing Throng (1923), Harbor Lights of Home (1928), and Today and Tomorrow (1942).

From 1931 to 1942, Guest broadcast a weekly program on NBC radio. In 1951, "A Guest in Your Home" appeared on NBC TV. He published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was thought to have written over 11,000 poems. Guest has been called "the poet of the people." Most often, his poems were fourteen lines long and presented a deeply sentimental view of everyday life. He considered himself "a newspaper man who wrote verses." Of his poem he said, "I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them." His Collected Verse appeared in 1934 and went into at least eleven editions.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/...

Reviews

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute delight!

[Christabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this aloud to whatever kid who would listen. What a breath of fresh air! A favorite:

The Fellowship of Books

I care not who the man may be,
  Nor how his tasks may fret him,
Nor where he fares, nor how his cares
  And troubles may beset him,
If books have won the love of him,
  Whatever fortune hands him,
He'll always own, when he's alone,
  A friend who understands him.
Though other friends may come and go,
  And some may stoop to treason,
His books remain, through loss or gain,
  And season after season
The faithful friends for every mood,
  His joy and sorrow sharing,
For old time's sake, they'll lighter make
  The burdens he is bearing.
Oh, he has counsel at his side,
  And wisdom for his duty,
And laughter gay for hours of play,
  And tenderness and beauty,
And fellowship divinely rare,
  True friends who never doubt him,
Unchanging love, and God above,
  Who keeps good books about him.

[Raymond Benitez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man’s poetry is like sitting down with an old friend or grandfather and listening to his stories about life.

As a poet, he is humble. He isn’t trying to impress you with ambiguities or strange literary devices. His writing is like bread and butter, simple and satisfying. I understand what he is saying, take pleasure in his word selections and rhymes (yes, he rhymes), and can relate with the life experiences he addresses.

I laughed, cried, and reflected. Ironically, he achieved what literary snobs wish they could achieve but often fail to do. He made me care about what he was saying, but it was because he respected me as a reader who isn’t well read or educated. He wrote for me and others like me.

5/5 - a lifetime read for those who want to begin reading poetry and need help starting.


My favorite poems so far has been “The Fellowship of Books”, “If I had Youth”, and “The Peaks of Valor”.

[Lila Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a pure, lighthearted, quintessential example of early 20th century poetry. Edgar A Guest just seems like a genuinely good guy, and I want to give him a hug. Very pleasant to read, and although monotonous at times and not always the most well written, it made me very happy. Some stand out poems to me were, ‘The joys we miss’, ‘Wait till your pa comes home!’, ‘The willing horse’, ‘With dog and gun’, ‘What home’s intended for’, and ‘When friends drop in’.
4 stars, would read again!

[kinsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic poet who writes of home and kids and sitting on the porch and the importance of hard work and American pride. Quickly becoming one of my favorites. So many of his poems make me smile and remember things I did when I was a kid or make me think about the kind of person I want to be.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hb, 1921 Reilly and. Lee publ. Cond Good with notes by father.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edgar Guest was a popular poet in his day. Somehow the word 'popular' becomes a pejorative term when applied to a poet, akin to being a 'successful' secondhand car salesman.

So was Guest popular because he was good, or popular because he traded in glibly heartwarming platitudes? Try the third verse of the title poem, which proudly opens the collection:

'When day is done, all the hurt and strife
And the selfishness and the greed of life,
Are left behind in the busy town;
I've ceased to worry about renown
Or gold or fame, and I'm just a dad,
Content to be with his girl and lad.'

Is that good poetry? Certainly not. Is it bad poetry? Well, with regards to even the feeblest considerations of craft and artistry, I think you have to say yes. Not bad enough for me to put the poet in thumbscrews or disembowel myself in rage, but bad none the less.

The word I would use to best characterise that example, or any alternative I could have plucked from any of the roughly eight hundred poems included here (OK, there were only just over one hundred, but it seemed like much, much more) is lame.

I could double-down on that description by adding some choice adverbs such as 'lazily' or 'incredibly', but why bother?

Plain old lame will do.

Alternatively, here's a domestic scene from the life of the Poet of the People:

(Scene: Edgar Guest arrives home from the golf course...)

Edgar: Hi honey, I'm home!

Wife: Hi honey. Just in time, dinner's nearly on the table.

Edgar: Thanks honey. Won't be a minute, just going into my study to write a poem.

(Five minutes later at the dinner table...)

Wife: There you are! Any luck evoking the Muse before your meatloaf?

Edgar: Sure, honey. Finished off a poem I started this morning between brushing my teeth and breakfast about how great America is called No Better Land Than This, then wrote another one about how golf is also great, and just like life when you think about it.

Wife: That's great, honey. I do have some bad news though. Edgar Jnr was acting up again today, he wouldn't eat his lunch and kept asking for candy instead.

Edgar: Boys will be boys, honey! Gee whiz, you've got to let him have his little tantrums! I tell you what, before bedtime I'll give him a quart of castor oil and a thorough spanking, then read him one of my new poems called "Wait Till Your Pa Comes Home".

Wife: Gee, thanks honey. Are you coming to the bedroom, the Happiness Boys are on the radio in ten minutes?

Edgar: Sure, honey. I just need to dedicate some time to my latest poetry collection which is due to be published next week. I still need three new poems. I'll just pop into the study and knock them out, then join you before the show begins. It should be OK, I've already started one of them called The Simple Things, all about the importance of staying humble even if you happen to be highly successful and loved by all. Can you bring the whips and jellies?

Wife: Sure, honey. Don't work too hard now!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

"For much that is fine has been mine to enjoy, and I think I have lived to my best.

And I have no regrets, as I'm nearing the end, for the gold that I might have possessed."

While I thoroughly enjoyed a number of Edgar Albert Guest's poems, it became obvious while reading the book that he commonly repeats a number of phrases and themes for his poems. Additionally, they were all written for a newspaper column and as a result of the poems sometimes feel longer than they should have been. Thus, while this overall collection of poems has some great ones in it, I would only recommend it with the reservation that it is perfectly okay to skip poems if they feel repetitive, and also to say that these poems were meant to be read once a week over the course of years, so, should you get tired of reading them, try taking a break and coming back to it later. You might find that it's still worth your time.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very light, homespun poetry in very simple, down-to-earth language. I loved this when I was growing up and though the poetry isn't all that profound I think it helped me develop a love for verse. Of course, it could also be that the edition I have is one of the first real leatherbound books I ever owned (which made quite an impression on me as an 8-year old who had already become firmly entrenched in book-love) and that it came from my grandma.

[Nancy Houston Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the works of Edgar Guest.