O HENRY

HENRY’S LIFE

William Sidney Porter (American) was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina.His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died from tuberculosis.

On Jully 1 1887 Henry & Anthol were married Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then a daughter, Margaret Worth Porter, in September 1889.

Athol Estes Porter died from tuberculosis (then known as consumption) on July 25, 1897.

In 1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted. Porter had little to say in his own defense, and was found guilty of embezzlement in February 1898, sentenced to five years in prison, and imprisoned on March 25, 1898. Porter was released on July 24, 1901 for good behavior after serving three years. 

Porter was a heavy drinker, and his health deteriorated markedly in 1908, which affected his writing & and he died on June 5.

HENRY AS A WRITER

O Henry's stories frequently have surprise endings. O. Henry stories were considerably more playful. His

stories are also known for witty narration. Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the

early 20th century.The most part of his story deals with ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses, etc.

Cabbages and Kings was his first collection of stories, followed by The Four Million & His final work was "Dream", a short story intended for the magazine The Cosmopolitan but left incomplete at the time of his death.

Writing prodigiously under the pen name O. Henry, he completed one story a week for a newspaper, in addition to other stories for magazines. Popular collections of his stories included The Four Million (1906); Heart of the Westand The Trimmed Lamp (both 1907); The Gentle Grafter and The Voice of the City (both 1908); Options (1909); and Whirligigs and Strictly Business(both 1910).

O HENRY’ SHORT STORIES The Gift of the Magi The Ransom of Red Chief After 20 years The Cop and the Anthem A Retrieved Reformation A Service of Love The Furnished Room The Green door Between Rounds From the Cabby’s Seat Man About Town

TITLES IN POEM CATEGORY  Chanson De Boheme 

Drop a Tear in This Slot 

Hard To Forget 

Murderer, The 

Tamales 

The Lullaby Boy 

The Old Farm 

The Pewee 

Two Portraits 

Vanity 

WHAT MAKES O'HENRY A GREAT STORY TELLER?

O Henry is one of the born story-tellers of the world. He wrote so naturally and without much difficulty as if it was but to breathe to him. He is a master of tragedy, romance and extravaganza, of tales of mystery or of common life/common people, with especial skill in surprise ending. In fact, when one talks about surprise ending, O'Henry rests on the top of the list. What makes him great in my opinion can be listed as such: *the variety and colourfulness of his characters and the places. *unexpected ending. *tamed, elegant and unexaggerated humour. Even after O. Henry's death on June 5, 1910, stories continued to be collected: Sixes and Sevens (1911); Rolling Stones (1912); Waifs and Strays(1917); O. Henryana (1920); Letters to Lithopolis (1922); Postscripts (1923); and O. Henry Encore (1939).

 

HENRY ‘S LAST MESSAGE TO HIS READERS All my stories are related to

experiences that come across my travel. All my characters feel ordinary rather special. There is always a final twist in my stories. Don’t think about your own life , but think about the experiences you meet with others. What I now said and my stories will live long even after my death. I want you all to read my stories and through my readers I will live generations after generations……………….

THANK YOU & HAVE A NICE DAY