Author: Archibald MacLeish

Born in Glencoe, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) attended the Hotchkiss School and later Yale University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1915. During his time at Yale he edited the Yale Literary Magazine. After graduation, he married and, when the United States entered the First World War, volunteered to serve as an ambulance driver. Upon his return to America, he worked as a lawyer, but found it a distraction from his writing and moved with his family to France. During his time in France, he published four books of poetry, including The Pot of Earth in 1925. In 1928, he moved back to the US to work on an epic poem, Conquistador, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. During World War II, he served as Librarian of Congress and later as Assistant Secretary of State for Cultural Affairs. Following his public service, he taught at both Harvard and Amherst, and continued to write until his death.

Memorial Rain: For Kenneth MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish

Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, lawyer, and (later) ninth Librarian of Congress (1939–44), wrote “Memorial Rain” (1926) after attending the dedication of the cemetery in Belgium where his younger brother Kenneth, killed in 1918 during World War I, was buried.