George Marion McClellan

George Marion McClellan (September 29, 1860 – May 17, 1934) was an American writer. Born in Tennessee, McClellan was educated at Fisk University and Hartford Theological Seminary. He worked as a Congregationalist minister and as a high school teacher and principal. His writing, generally self-published, included both prose and poetry. Critical assessment of McClellan's work is divided. Some see it as unoriginal, while others argue that it reveals emotional depth.

Early life and education George Marion McClellan was born on September 29, 1860, in Belfast, Tennessee, to Eliza (Leonard) and George Fielding McClellan.

He received an AB and MA from Fisk University in 1885 and 1890, respectively, and attended Hartford Theological Seminary (now Hartford International University for Religion and Peace) from 1885 to 1887, eventually receiving a bachelor's of divinity in 1891. Between 1892 and 1894, he worked in New England as a financial agent for Fisk University.

He taught high school and worked as a principal from 1899 to 1919 in Louisville. In total, 67 poems by McClellan are known.

Many know McClellan for his poetry, many don't know that he wrote fictional prose and literally criticism. All of McClellan's fictional prose other than one piece talks about how life was in rural Alabama. A singular piece entails stories about colored women. One the flip side his literary criticism reveals and expresses emotional depth. Along with his writing, he also served as a congregational minister from 1892 to 1894.

Reception Critic Dickson D. Bruce Jr., who considers McClellan's poetry conservative and sentimentalist, notes that it generally treats common themes of the time such as "nature, love, or religion".

Personal life McClellan married Mariah Augusta Rabb on October 3, 1888.

Publications Poems and Storiettes (self-published in Nashville, Tennessee, 1895) Songs of a Southerner (Boston: Rockwell and Churchell, 1896) Old Greenbottom Inn and Other Stories (self-published in Louisville, 1906) The Path of Dreams (Louisville: Morton, 1916)