James J. Montague

James J. Montague

John Vose Wood Montague

Martha Washington Jackson

James Jackson Montague (April 16, 1873 – December 16, 1941), often referred to as "Jim" or "Jimmy" Montague, was an American journalist, satirist, and poet. Renowned as a "versifier," Montague is best known for his column "More Truth Than Poetry," which was published in a wide number of newspapers for nearly 25 years.

Montague's journalism career began in 1896 at the Portland Oregonian, where he started as a copy boy. He was soon promoted to reporter and eventually took over the column "Slings and Arrows." In 1902 he was hired by William Randolph Hearst to work at the New York American and New York Evening Journal, where he debuted "More Truth Than Poetry." Montague wrote the column six days a week, in addition to articles on topics such as politics, theater and sports. In 1919 he moved to the New York World, which described him as "the most widely circulated poet in the United States." Later in Montague's career, his whimsical pieces were often carried by the Bell Syndicate.

Read more about James J. Montague:  Early Life, New York, Politics, Personal Life, Death, Bibliography

Famous quotes containing the words james and/or montague:

    Happy you poets who can be present and so present by a simple flicker of your genius, and not, like the clumsier race, have to lay a train and pile up faggots that may not after prove in the least combustible!
    —Henry James (1843–1916)

    its crumbled yellow cup
    and pale bleeding lips
    fading to white
    at the rim
    of each bruised and heart-
    shaped petal.
    —John Montague (b. 1929)