Karl Dewey Myers

Karl Dewey Myers (1899–1951) was an American poet known during his lifetime for his portrayal of rural Appalachia. He was named the first state poet laureate of West Virginia in 1927, and published two poetry collections, The Quick Years and Cross and Crown (1951).

Life and career Karl Dewey Myers was born in February, 1899 in Tucker County, West Virginia. The youngest of 7 children, his parents were Mary C. Philips (1857–1923) and Benjamin Franklin Myers (1854–1932). Myers was physically disabled, but the exact nature of his disability is not well documented. Within his life, he never weighed more than sixty pounds and never walked, and he relied on a special typewriter due to his difficulty with typing on a traditional model. Due to his disabilities, he was denied access to formal education and was almost entirely self-taught. But Barnes also notes that poems such as “Juanita” draw on Victorian imagery, similar to Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Maud."