| 1942 - 1973 |
| Year | John Neihardt - Singular Epic Poet of America 1881 - 1973 | Photos | |
| 1942
1973 | Neihardt devoted this period to teaching and appearances such as his interview with Dick Cavett in 1971 . His last novel, When the Tree Flowered, was written during this time, as were the two autobiographys covering his childhood and youth respectively: All Is But a Beginning, and the incomplete Patterns and Coincidences. Neihardt's humor prompted him to break up a dull evening in honor of Robert Frost, by asking the fellow poet, as he pinned an award medal on him, "would you like to be kissed on each cheek like French heroes are". Frost consented and it brought down the house with laughter. By the time of his death at age 92, John Neihardt was widely respected and Black Elk Speaks had been published in six languages. His life and work reveal a vast spirited love for adventure, nature and Native American Culture. Neihardt had a real sense of the cosmos, and relation to what he liked to call "the music of what happens." Oh I know in my heart, During the late sixties Swami Satyananda requested a meeting with Neihardt, and according Hilda Neihardt "sitting across from each other, they stared intently for 15 minutes, then Neihardt responded with only a calm "yes", and that was the extent of need for conversation between two such great spiritual men." |
The desk where Neihardt wrote his autobiography |
