Lanier, Sidney [key], 1842–81, American poet and musician, b. Macon, Ga., grad. Oglethorpe College 1860. His first work, the novel Tiger-Lilies (1867), was based on his experiences as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. An accomplished musician, Lanier was first flutist of the Peabody Orchestra, Baltimore, in 1873. Following his appointment as lecturer on English literature at Johns Hopkins, his study of the interrelation of music and poetry was published as The Science of English Verse (1880). His Poems appeared in 1887. Lanier's poetry is marked by its melodic verse and extravagant conceits. Among his best-known poems are “Corn,” and “The Marshes of Glyn.”
See Centennial edition of his works (ed. by C. R. Anderson et al., 10 vol., 1945); biography by A. H. Starke (1933, repr. 1964); studies by J. De Bellis (1972) and J. S. Gabin (1985).
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