- published: 21 Jun 2016
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William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.
William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he changed the spelling to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–1865). They were married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died from tuberculosis, and he and his father moved into the home of his maternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favorite works were Lane's translation of One Thousand and One Nights, and Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.
Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was fifteen. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and in 1881, at the age of nineteen, he was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed off his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.
I arrive from a place unbeknownst
To followers of God and Satan
Domain of truth, a land forlorn
Called the bearer of the demon's horn
Hate is strong with the firm believers
Coming at me with chains and stones
Deny the writings and burn the scriptures
Fortifiers of the fraudulence
Fortifiers of the fraudulence
Commanded to hold fast
Forced to stand their ground
Darkness and light alike
To hatred all are bound
An old man, clad in rags
Spouting empty words
Mock his sermons, awake his thirst
Set fire to the tie that binds
Mind emptied, clean slate
Regaining faith in what one sees
Lifting the veil of the past
Redeeming one's own self
An old man, clad in rags
Spouting empty words
Mock his sermons, awake his thirst
Set fire to the tie that binds
A new era begins
A removal of all gods
A cleansing scours the earth
Neutralization of the soil
Kill the written words
Kill demons, kill angels
Liberate, release
Covenants dissolved
Enter into a day and age
Rid of coercive beliefs
Put an end to the fraudulence
[Lead: Anders Bertilsson]
Determined to hold fast
Set to stand our ground.
Lifting the veil of the past