THE MAN WITH THE HOE. [caption title]; Written after seeing Millet's world-famous painting of a brutalized toiler in the deep abyss of labor

Poetry broadside, 35 x 21 cm. Scattered foxing and spotting, browned on verso, old fold lines. Two short, closed tears at upper and lower margins, lower left corner chipped, not affecting text. Inscribed by Markham in ink at the top, "For my friend, Audrey Ovington, with my western halloo," with a circle underneath. At the bottom signed by Markham, with the date 1931. The poem, originally written in 1898, has five stanza of uneven length, a total of 49 lines. The first lines: "Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans / Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, / The emptiness of ages in his face." A caption review below the poem states that "[t]his poem has been repeatedly called 'the supreme poem of the century' and 'the battle-cry of the next thousand years.' " Markham was Poet Laureate of Oregon from 1923-1931. The fame of this poem meant that Markham was also often called to speak on labor issues.