Byron Herbert Reece
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Byron Herbert Reece (September 14, 1917 – June 3, 1958) was an American poet and novelist. During his life, he published four volumes of poetry and two volumes of fiction. Reece wrote the words of his legacy in four lines: :''From chips and shards, in idle times,'' :''I made these stories, shaped these rhymes;'' :''May they engage some friendly tongue'' :''When I am past the reach of song.''


Life

Born in
Union County, Georgia Union County is a county in the Northeast region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,632. The county seat is Blairsville. History Union County was originally a core part of the homeland of the native ...
on September 14, 1917, Reece began publishing poems locally while in high school, receiving his first widespread publication in 1943 with the publication of "Lest the Lonesome Bird" in the ''
Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publi ...
'' journal. ''Ballad of the Bones and Other Poems'', collecting Reece's poetry, soon followed, in 1945. He published ''Bow Down in Jericho'', his 1950 follow-up to that first, critically acclaimed publication. That same year, Reece published ''Better a Dinner of Herbs'', his first novel. In 1952, he received a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
for fiction. 1952 also saw a third volume of poetry, ''A Song of Joy'', while 1955 brought his second novel, ''The Hawk and the Sun'' and his final volume of poetry, ''The Season of Flesh''. On June 3, 1958, Reece committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
at the age of forty, responding to illness and depression. During his final years, Reece also taught classes at
Young Harris College Young Harris College is a Private college, private Methodist-affiliated Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Young Harris, Georgia, United States. History Origins The school was founded in 1886 by Artemas Le ...
to earn extra money. He was found in his office, with
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
playing on the record player and his final set of student papers graded and neatly stacked in the desk drawer.


Personality

In a career cut short by illness and suicide, Byron Herbert Reece produced an enduring body of poetry and fiction from the sounds and spirits of his North Georgia homeland. His five volumes of verse draw deeply from the lyrical wellsprings of Nature and the Bible, twin legacies of an upbringing in the agricultural uplands of Union County, around Blairsville. His two novels, in turn, are remarkable regional portraits - one a mountain family drama of overland journey to Old Testament rhythms, the other a morality play of a small-town lynching. Reece was a bright and solitary schoolboy, a graduate of Blairsville High School who grew up in such rural isolation, the story goes, that he never saw a car until he was eight or twelve (depending on the version). He attended Young Harris College and taught school intermittently between 1935 and 1942, producing poem after poem for small journals and newspapers even while his parents' tuberculosis led him to take increasing responsibility for the family farm. During these years,
Atlanta Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in Atlanta metropolitan area, metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Jo ...
editor
Ralph McGill Ralph Emerson McGill (February 5, 1898 – February 3, 1969) was an American journalist and editorialist. An anti-segregationist editor, he published the ''Atlanta Constitution'' newspaper. He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Ju ...
and Kentucky writer
Jesse Stuart Jesse Hilton Stuart (August 8, 1906 – February 17, 1984) was an American writer, school teacher, and school administrator who is known for his short stories, poetry, and novels as well as non-fiction autobiographical works set in central Appa ...
- themselves offspring of the rural Appalachians - early recognized Reece's talent. He won American Poet magazine's annual poetry award in 1943, and with Stuart's sponsorship H.P. Dutton published Reece's first volume of poetry, Ballad of the Bones, in 1945. By 1952, Reece had been profiled in a national magazine (Newsweek), and tendered a position as poet-in-residence at UCLA. In the short decade of success Reece saw before illness, financial insecurity, and loss took their ultimate toll on him, he was much honored in his home state. Five times he received the Georgia Writers Association's literary achievement award, and he served as poet-in-residence at both Young Harris College and Emory University. His books and honors never yielded much in money, however, and Reece's labors never long allayed the financial worries that attended the harsh circumstances of the farm and family illness. He was teaching part-time at Young Harris to make ends meet, in fact, when depression and illness wore him down and Reece took his own life on June 3, 1958, three months shy of his forty-first birthday.


Honors and legacy

Reece received Guggenheim Fellowships for fiction in 1952 and 1957. The
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame honors writers who have made significant contributions to the literary legacy of the state of Georgia. Established in 2000 by the University of Georgia Libraries’ Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Ha ...
inducted Reece in 2001. In 2003 a group of writers formed the ''Byron Herbert Reece Society'' to preserve and promote Reece's legacy. In 2004, the Society began working on constructing a museum to the writer on the site of his family farm, which is owned by Union County, and the museum and grounds are now open to visitors. The Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center in
Blairsville, Georgia Blairsville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Georgia, Union County, on the northern border of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It was founded near the Nottely River, which was dammed in 1942 as part of the Tennessee ...
tells the story of Reece's life, and shows Appalachian farming techniques from the early 20th century. Features of the farm include a Poetry Trail Garden, Mulberry Hall (the poet's writing studio), and five barn buildings housing 13 exhibits. Reece's life story is at the center of Georgia's state drama, ''
The Reach of Song ''The Reach of Song'' is Georgia's state drama written by Tom DeTitta. It depicts life in the Appalachian Mountains between World War I and World War II and follows the life and death of Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer Byron Herbert Reece. Ba ...
'', which depicts life between
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
. The Byron Herbert Reece Society petitioned the Georgia General Assembly to name Reece "Georgia's Appalachian Poet/Novelist" and to designate Highway 129 from Blairsville to Neels Gap "The Byron Herbert Reece Memorial Highway." This was accomplished through the Georgia General Assembly's HR 295 which was passed in 2005.


Works


Poetry

* Ballad of the Bones, and Other Poems - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1945; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1985 * Bow Down in Jericho - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1950; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1985 * A Song of Joy - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1952; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1985 * The Season of Flesh - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1955; Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1985


Novels

* Better a Dinner of Herbs - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1950; Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1992 * The Hawk and the Sun - New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1955; Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1994


Books about Reece

* Mountain Singer: The Life and the Legacy of Byron Herbert Reece by Raymond C. Cook / Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Company, 1980 * The Bitter Berry: The Life of Byron Herbert Reece - by Bettie M. Sellers. / Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1993 * Byron Herbert Reece: 1917-1958 and the Southern Poetry Tradition by Alan Jackson / Edwin Mellen Press, 2001 * Fable in the Blood. The Selected Poems of Byron Herbert Reece Edited by Jim Clark / Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2002


References


External links


Byron Herbert Reece
''
The New Georgia Encyclopedia The ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' (NGE) is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia. It is a program of Georgia Humanities (GH), in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System ...
''
Byron Herbert Reece Society
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Byron 1917 births 1958 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American poets 1958 suicides Schoolteachers from Georgia (U.S. state) Novelists from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Union County, Georgia Young Harris College alumni American male short story writers American male poets 20th-century American short story writers Suicides in Georgia (U.S. state) Poets from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American educators Young Harris College