The Twilight Club

The Twilight Club was a venerable tradition of ethical activism originally founded in the late 1870’s as a “learned circle” of visionary thinkers from diverse disciplines. Inspired by the British philosopher Herbert Spencer, the founding members included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Edwin Markham, and several others. Their stated purpose was that of ethical and cultural renewal of their world.

“In vain we build the city if we do not first build the man.”

“Our hope is in heroic men,
Star-led to build the world again.
To this event the ages ran:
Make way for Brotherhood-
make way for Man.”

—from Brotherhood

Charles Edwin Anson Markham (1852 - 1940) was an American poet. From 1923 to 1931 he was Poet Laureate of Oregon.
In his day Markham managed to fuse art and social commentary in a manner that guaranteed him a place among the most famous artists of the late nineteenth century. His reputation has faded because of the somewhat dated nature of his verse; nevertheless, he remains a notable figure for his contributions to American poetry. His work stands as an example of what American critics and readers valued near the turn of the century.

Poet's Code of Ethics

In the later decades of the 19th Century, the British philosopher, Herbert Spencer, took an honest look at world trends and predicted that civilization was on a downward trend, for culture, beauty and ethical practices were neglected in society. He believed that politicians were not likely or able to change the trends. If there was to be a change, how would it come about? He believed the poets, visionary thinkers and artists of the world would have the solution. In Britain he inspired men such as Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Darwin to consider the problem. In America, his friends Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Howard Bridge, Richard Watson Gilder, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Walt Whitman, Edwin Markham, Henry Holt, John Burroughs, Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie took up the question. These men, searching for a way in which to change the negative direction of society to positive action, formed a gathering, calling themselves the Twilight Club, because they met at twilight—not simply the twilight of the day, but, as they saw the situation, they were meeting at the evening twilight of the 19th Century and the morning twilight of the 20th Century—at the twilight of civilization, unless the downward trend could be stopped.