Sidney Lanier was actually a famous poet and musician from the 1800’s who grew up in Macon Georgia and attended Oglethorpe University.

 

Sidney Lanier’s early days were spent doing extensive travel throughout the US and developing a talent for the flute. He decided to head to the northeast to try and make it as a musician - eventually signing on to play the flute for the Peabody Orchestra in Baltimore.

 

His fluting skills were self-taught and he was quite famous in his day for his performances of a personal composition for the flute called "Black Birds," which mimics the song of that species.

 

Later he began writing poetry, some of his more famous poems were:
   - The Symphony (1875)
   - Centennial Meditation (1876)
   - The Song of the Chattahoochee (1877)
   - The Marshes of Glynn (1878)
   - Sunrise (1881)

 

The latter two poems are generally considered his greatest works and describe the vast, open salt marshes of Glynn County on the coast of Georgia.

 

Late in his life, he became a student, lecturer, and, finally, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, specializing in poetry and literature.