J U Nicolson

J. U. Nicolson (1885-1944) was a twentieth-century American poet and translator of poetry. Born John Urban Nicolson, he spent most of his professional life in Chicago, Illinois. Nicolson first achieved notice as a "column poet," so-called for the appearance of his early work in the literary columns of several Chicago newspapers under the pseudonym, "The King of the Black Isles." The Chicago publisher Pascal Covici brought out several works by Nicolson during the 1920s. J. U. Nicolson is perhaps...See more

J. U. Nicolson (1885-1944) was a twentieth-century American poet and translator of poetry. Born John Urban Nicolson, he spent most of his professional life in Chicago, Illinois. Nicolson first achieved notice as a "column poet," so-called for the appearance of his early work in the literary columns of several Chicago newspapers under the pseudonym, "The King of the Black Isles." The Chicago publisher Pascal Covici brought out several works by Nicolson during the 1920s. J. U. Nicolson is perhaps best remembered for his rendering into modern English of The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer. See less