Release date is 2025-06-17

Todd E. May

"Collected poems of Clarence Edwin Flynn, first series : 1929 and earlier" by Flynn is a collection of poems written in the early 20th century. The volume gathers devotional, reflective, and plainspoken verse on faith, home, nature, childhood, teaching, and the moral costs of war. It also engages modern marvels—cinema, radio, electricity—contrasting fleeting spectacle with enduring virtues. Readers will find hymns, prayers, patriotic pieces, and narrative lyrics that champion hope, service, and the sacredness of ordinary life. The opening of the collection presents a transcriber’s note about editorial method (poems ordered by publication year, standardized title case, appendices) and acknowledgements, followed by a preface sketching the poet’s life, byline variations, and the public-domain scope of this first installment. The initial run of poems then establishes the book’s range: dialect humor (“Si Gidders”), biblical monologue and prayer (“Hagar’s Song,” “Child’s Prayer”), nostalgia for childhood and home, and meditations on hope, heaven, and Christ (“The Open Tomb,” “The King”). World War I shadows many pieces, opposing militarism and honoring sacrifice (“A Price Unpaid,” “Two Princes,” “The New Day,” “Unknown Soldier”), while recurring “screen” and “picture” motifs reflect on film and modern media (“Pictures,” “The World’s Drama,” “The Silent Drama”). Other representative themes include the dignity of teaching and youth (“The Teacher,” “The Builders”), patriotic affection (“The Flag at Sea,” “The Stars and Stripes for Me”), and technological wonder (“Electricity,” “The Lens,” “The Radio Neighborhood”), all voiced in clear, uplifting language. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Chicago: Disciples Publication Society, 1922