Arthur Guiterman
United States writer (1871-1943)

Arthur Guiterman (; November 20, 1871 Vienna – January 11, 1943 New York) was an American writer best known for his humorous poems.
Life and career
Guiterman was born of American parents in Vienna. His father was Alexander Gütermann, born in the Bavarian village Redwitz an der Rodach, and his mother was Louisa Wolf, born in Cincinnati. Arthur graduated from the City College of New York in 1891, and later was married in 1909 to Vida Lindo. He was an editor of the Woman's Home Companion and the Literary Digest. In 1910, he cofounded the Poetry Society of America, and later served as its president in 1925–26.
One poem about modern progress, with rhyming couplets such as "First dentistry was painless;/Then bicycles were chainless", ends:
Another Guiterman poem is "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness":
His 1936 "D.A.R.ling" satire is about the Daughters of the American Revolution and three other clubs open only to descendants of pre-Independence British Americans.
He also notably wrote the libretto for Walter Damrosch's The Man Without a Country which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on May 12, 1937.
Bibliography
Poetry
Collections
Guiterman, Arthur (1907). Betel nuts: What they say in Hindustan.
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