John G. Neihardt

Biography

John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) was an American poet and author who served as Poet Laureate of Nebraska and is best known for his epic poem cycle A Cycle of the West and his collaboration with the Lakota holy man Black Elk. Born in Sharpsburg, Illinois, Neihardt grew up in Nebraska and developed a deep connection with the Great Plains landscape and its Native American peoples. His ambitious poetic project, A Cycle of the West (1915–1941), tells the story of the American frontier in five long narrative poems spanning from the fur trade era to the Wounded Knee Massacre. Neihardt’s other major work, Black Elk Speaks (1932), transcribed the visions and memories of the Oglala Lakota holy man Nicholas Black Elk and has become one of the most widely read books on Native American spirituality. Neihardt’s poetry combines epic ambition with genuine sympathy for both the settlers and indigenous peoples caught up in the westward expansion, creating a complex, humane vision of American frontier history.