{{Short description|United States writer (1871–1943)}} thumb|right|Arthur Guiterman '''Arthur Guiterman''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɪ|t|ər|m|ən}}; November 20, 1871 Vienna – January 11, 1943 New York) was an American writer best known for his humorous poems.
==Life and career== Guiterman was born of American parents in Vienna. His father was Alexander Gütermann, born in the Bavarian village Redwitz an der Rodach, and his mother was Louisa Wolf, born in Cincinnati.<ref>Albert Heckscher: Stammtafel Koppel (oder Thurnauer), Kopenhagen 1883, p. 23; online version see: Charles P. Stanton Family Collection (Center für Jewish History) [https://archive.org/details/charlesperrystanton_20_reel20/page/n452/mode/1up?)view=theater]</ref> Arthur graduated from the City College of New York in 1891, and later was married in 1909 to Vida Lindo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/271/1001.html|title=Biographical Notes. Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922|last=Rittenhouse|first=Jessie|access-date=2005-05-27| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050420104410/http://bartleby.com/271/1001.html| archive-date= 20 April 2005 | url-status= live}}</ref> He was an editor of the ''Woman's Home Companion'' and the ''Literary Digest''. In 1910, he cofounded the Poetry Society of America, and later served as its president in 1925–26.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poets/guiterman-arthur|title=Guiterman, Arthur (1871–1943)|publisher=University of Toronto library|access-date=2014-10-20}}</ref>
One poem about modern progress, with rhyming couplets such as "First dentistry was painless;/Then bicycles were chainless", ends: {{cquote|<poem> New motor roads are dustless, The latest steel is rustless, Our tennis courts are sodless, Our new religions—godless. </poem> }}
Another Guiterman poem is "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness":<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/24.html |title=On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness |access-date=2009-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228130116/http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/24.html |archive-date=2009-02-28}}</ref> {{cquote|<poem> The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls Of mastodons, are billiard balls. The sword of Charlemagne the Just Is Ferric Oxide, known as rust. The grizzly bear, whose potent hug Was feared by all, is now a rug. Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf, And I don't feel so well myself. </poem> }}
His 1936 "D.A.R.ling" satire is about the Daughters of the American Revolution and three other clubs open only to descendants of pre-Independence British Americans.
{{cquote|<poem> The D.A.R.lings chatter like starlings telling their ancestors' names, while grimly aloof, with looks of reproof, sit the Colonial Dames.{{efn|Both the Colonial Dames of America and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.}} The Cincinnati, merry and chatty, dangle their badges and pendants; but haughty and proud, disdaining the crowd, brood the Mayflower descendants. </poem> }}
He also notably wrote the libretto for Walter Damrosch's ''The Man Without a Country'' which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on May 12, 1937.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160244/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848711,00.html Music: Man Without a Country], ''Time'', May 24, 1937</ref>
== Bibliography == {{Incomplete list|date=January 2009}}
===Poetry=== ;Collections *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |title=Betel nuts : what they say in Hindustan |url=https://archive.org/details/betelnutswhatthe00guituoft |location=San Francisco |publisher=P. Elder |year=1907 <!--lccn=07030968 -->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=The laughing muse |url=https://archive.org/details/laughingmuse00guitgoog |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |year=1915 <!--lccn=15018768-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=The mirthful lyre |url=https://archive.org/details/mirthfullyre01guitgoog |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |year=1918 <!--lccn=18019169-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=The light guitar |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |year=1923 <!--lccn=23013563-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Wildwood fables |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1927 <!--lccn=27021939-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Song and laughter |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1929 <!--lccn=29023765-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Death and General Putnam and 101 other poems |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1935 <!--lccn=35013487-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Gaily the troubadour |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1936 <!--lccn=36025863 -->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Lyric laughter |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1939 <!--lccn=39028980-->}} *{{cite book |author=Guiterman, Arthur |author-mask=1 |title=Brave laughter |location=New York |publisher=E.P. Dutton |year=1943 <!--lccn=43014632-->}} ;List of poems {|class='wikitable sortable' width='90%' |- !width=25%|Title !|Year !|First published !|Reprinted/collected |- |Indifference |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=May 9, 1925 |title=Indifference |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=12 |pages=27}} | |- |I've never found that being clever |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=April 25, 1925 |title=I've never found that being clever |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=18}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (I–III) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=February 21, 1925 |title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (I-III) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=21}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (IV-VI) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=February 28, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (IV–VI) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=18}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (VII–IX) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=March 7, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (VII–IX) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=21}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (X–XII) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=March 14, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (X–XII) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=20}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XIII–XV) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=March 21, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XIII–XV) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=17}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XVI–XVIII) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=March 28, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XVI–XVIII) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=18}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XIX–XXI) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=April 4, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XIX–XXI) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=7 |pages=18}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXII–XXIV) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=April 11, 1925|title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXII–XXIV) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=8 |pages=12}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXV–XXVII) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=April 25, 1925 |title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXV–XXVII) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=10 |pages=14}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXVIII–XXX) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=May 2, 1925 |title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXVII–XXX) [sic] |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=11 |pages=14}} | |- |Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXXI–XXXIII) |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=June 13, 1925 |title=Lyrics from the Pekinese (XXXI–XXXIII) |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=17 |pages=10}} | |- |Religion |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=June 13, 1925 |title=Religion |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=17 |pages=14}} | |- |Rendezvous |1925 |{{cite magazine |author=Guiterman, Arthur |date=March 28, 1925|title=Rendezvous |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=8}} | |- |} ;Translations *{{cite book |author=Bonsels, Waldemar |others=Illustrated by Vera Bock; translated by Adele Szold Seltzer and Arthur Guiterman |title=The adventures of Maya the bee |location=New York |publisher=Boni |year=1929 <!--lccn=29025964-->}}
==Footnotes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} {{wikisource|works=or}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=26441| name=Arthur Guiterman}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Arthur Guiterman}} * {{Librivox author |id=7165}} *November 28, 1915, New York Times, [https://www.nytimes.com/1915/11/28/archives/poets-opportunities-greater-than-ever-before-arthur-guiterman-tells.html Poets' Opportunities Greater than Ever Before; Arthur Guiterman Tells How to Make a Living Out of Verse and Gives a List of Don'ts for Aspiring Poets;- Advises Writing on Topical Themes]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guiterman, Arthur}} Category:American male poets Category:American humorists Category:American humorous poets Category:American magazine editors Category:City College of New York alumni Category:The New Yorker people Category:American opera librettists Category:1871 births Category:1943 deaths Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American expatriates in Austria-Hungary Category:Presidents of the Poetry Society of America