bio notes:
born: 10/21/1845
died: 12/18/1912
born as: Will Carleton

American poet who often wrote about rural life and whose 1873 book Farm Ballads is a Johnson Highspot of American Literature. His poetry, once quite popular and still remembered in his native Michigan, continues to provide many homespun quotes such as "To appreciate heaven well, it's good for a person to have some fifteen minutes of hell."