author
Madge Morris Wagner
1862–1924
A California poet and journalist whose writing ranged from desert landscapes to patriotic verse, she built a wide readership in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her work was closely tied to the literary life of the American West.
1 Audiobook
Debris Selections from Poems
by Madge Morris Wagner
About the author
Born in 1862 while her family was traveling west to California, Madge Morris Wagner became known as a poet and journalist connected with The Golden Era. Reference works from her lifetime describe her as an early newspaper writer as well as a poet, and her work helped establish her reputation in California literary circles.
Her poems were widely noticed, and she published books including Poems and later The Lure of the Desert Land, and Other Poems. Sources also credit her patriotic poem "Liberty Bell" with inspiring the creation of the Columbian Liberty Bell for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Today she is remembered as a Western literary figure whose writing mixed regional imagery, sentiment, and public spirit. She died in 1924, leaving behind poetry, prose, and a place in the history of California letters.