Calvin Ziegler

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Calvin Ziegler
Born
Charles Calvin Ziegler

1854
Rebersburg, Pennsylvania
Died1930
Occupation
Pennsylvania Dutch
" language

Charles Calvin Ziegler (1854–1930) was a

Pennsylvania Dutch, and although he learned English in school, he wrote his poetry in the Pennsylvania Dutch language. He is said to have been the most accomplished poet to write in that language, and may have written the only Pennsylvania Dutch sonnet on record.[1][2]

Background

Ziegler was born on a farm to a 39-year-old mother and an even older father. He had at least one older brother, Samuel, who moved to

Harvard. In 1884 he graduated magna cum laude and returned briefly to Rebersburg. He left for good in 1885, settling in St. Louis
.

Ziegler published a volume of poems with a Leipzig publisher in 1891, Drauss un Deheem, helping spur a revival of Pennsylvania Dutch literature. Included in the volume in a set of nineteen poems devoted to his mother, who died weeks before his Harvard graduation. The volume was republished in Pennsylvania 1936, with some additional material.

References

  1. ^ Reichard, Harry Hess. Pennsylvania-German Dialect Writings and Their Writers: A Paper Prepared at the Request of the Pennsylvania-German Society, pp. 303-312. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1918.