Thomas Hornsby Ferril (1896–1988) was a poet in the U.S. state of Colorado. A journalist who specialized in corporate

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

, he studied and wrote poetry as an avocation. In his later years of life (1979-1988) he was named poet laureate of Colorado. Colorado Creative Industries has called him "Colorado's most celebrated poet."

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

called him "The Poet of the Rockies".

Biography

Born in 1896, Ferril was educated at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

, married journalist Helen Ferril, and made his life in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Supporting his household as the director of public relations at the

Great Western Sugar Company The Western Sugar Cooperative is a grower owned American agricultural cooperative originating from the Great Western Sugar Company in 1901. History The Great Western Sugar Company was incorporated in February 1901 by Charles Boettcher and other ...

, he also wrote poetry and essays. His first collection of verse, ''High Passage'' (1926), was honored by the

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

. It was followed by ''Westering'' (1934), ''Trial by Time'' (1944), ''New and Selected Poems'' (1952), ''Words for Denver: and Other Poems'' (1966), and ''Anvil of Roses'' (1983). Ferril wrote extensively for wife Helen's weekly, ''The Rocky Mountain Herald''. They published ''I Hate Thursday'' (1946), and ''The Rocky Mountain Herald Reader'' (1966).

Legacy

Ferril was selected as the author of the cycle of verse that captions the

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s that decorate the first floor rotunda of the

Colorado State Capitol The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, United States, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. History ...

in Denver (painted 1938-1940). Ferril was awarded the Oscar Blumenthal Poetry Prize, the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

Award, the Robert Frost Poetry Award, and the Ridgely Torrence Memorial Award. A selection of his works was republished as ''Thomas Hornsby Ferril and the American West'' (1996). His papers have been archived in the

Denver Public Library The Denver Public Library is the public library system of the City and County of Denver, Colorado. The system includes the Denver Central Library, located in the Golden Triangle district of Downtown Denver, as well as 25 branch locations and ...

External Sources

Articles in Western American Literature on Thomas Hornsby Ferril

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferril, Thomas Hornsby 1896 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American poets Poets from Colorado Poets Laureate of Colorado Writers from Denver Colorado College alumni 20th-century American essayists