author
Samuel E. (Samuel Ellsworth) Kiser
1862–1942
A newspaperman turned poet, he brought humor, warmth, and everyday feeling into verse that was widely read in the early 20th century. His poems and light sketches often found charm in ordinary office life, family life, and the small pleasures of the day.
2 Audiobooks
Love Sonnets of an Office Boy
by Samuel E. (Samuel Ellsworth) Kiser
Thrills of a Bell Boy
by Samuel E. (Samuel Ellsworth) Kiser
About the author
Born in Shippenville, Pennsylvania, in 1862, Samuel E. Kiser became an American writer, editor, and poet whose work reached a broad popular audience. He began his career in journalism in Cleveland, Ohio, and later worked for the Chicago Record-Herald, where his regular column, Whimwhams and Sentiment, helped make his name familiar to readers.
Kiser wrote with an easy, approachable style that mixed wit with tenderness. His books included Love Sonnets of an Office Boy, Soul Sonnets of a Stenographer, The Whole Glad Year, and Budd Wilkins at the Show, and Other Verses. Much of his writing drew on everyday scenes and ordinary people, which gave it a friendly, conversational appeal.
He died in 1942. Though not as widely remembered now as some of his contemporaries, his poems still offer a lively glimpse of newspaper verse at a time when humor, sentiment, and accessible language were central to popular reading.