Lewis Worthington Smith

Lewis Worthington Smith (November 22, 1866 – December 1947) was an American professor and writer. Smith led the Drake University Department of English for 34 years. His works include poems and books about writing. His work was well-received and often republished.

Personal life and death

Smith was born on November 22, 1866, in Malta, Illinois, to Dwight A. Smith and Sarah Elizabeth (Lewis) Smith. By 1885, the Smiths were resident within Lone Tree Precinct, Clay County, Nebraska.

He attended Beloit College in Wisconsin, and he later attended Cotner University in Nebraska from which he received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1889. For Smith's undergraduate course, he was an educator at Fairfield College. Smith married Jessica Belle Welborne on August 24, 1897. Cotner University gave Smith a Master of Arts degree in 1901.

Smith died in Des Moines, Iowa, in December 1947.

Career

After graduating, Smith taught in Nebraska high schools and colleges. He was an associate professor of English at Cotner University, an English professor at Tabor College in Iowa, and an English professor at Drake University in Iowa. Smith led the Drake University Department of English for 34 years. His wife influenced him to organize an Iowa Authors Homecoming in 1914, along with Iowa Day in 1916. Smith was more known for his literature than for his professorship. His work was published in well-known magazines. In 1906, Smith published In the Furrow and it was his first book of poetry. His next publication was the comedy-drama play titled "The Art of Life", and the play was performed in 1909 and 1910. Smith's book of war poetry titled The English Tongue was published in 1916 by the Four Seas Company. His other works include The Writing of the Short Story and Modern Composition and Rhetoric. Smith's work was well-received and was often republished, but he lost much of his audience in the 1920s due to changing tastes and styles. He retired from Drake University in 1940. Smith received royalties from his textbook The Mechanism of English Style for 20 years.