In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still,
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot,
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not.
_Edward Rowland Sill_
Edward Rowland Sill was born at Windsor, Connecticut, in 1841. In
1861 he was graduated from Yale and shortly thereafter his poor
health compelled him West. After various unsuccessful experiments,
he drifted into teaching, first in the high schools in Ohio, later
in the English department of the University of California. His
uncertain physical condition added to his mental uncertainty. Unable
to ally himself either with the lethargic, conservative forces whom
he hated or with the radicals whom he distrusted, Sill became an
uncomfortable solitary; half rebellious, half resigned. During the
last decade of his life, his brooding seriousness was less
pronounced, a lighter irony took the place of his dark reflections.
_The Hermitage_, his first volume, was published in 1867, a later
edition (including later poems) appearing in 1889. His two
posthumous books are _Poems_ (1887) and _Hermione and Other Poems_
(1899).
Sill died, after bringing something of the Eastern culture to the
West, in 1887.