Prose

Knoepfle writes a clear, restrained prose. The book reads swiftly but pauses for bits of lovely detail. About a visit to Ohio’s Great Serpent Mound: “the two of us could stretch out with our heads propped on the flank of the good serpent, entertained by an excitement of indigo buntings and yellow warblers.” I’m reminded of his Poems from the Sangamon – a river flowing quickly in parts, eddied and blocked by debris and obstructions at times, breaking free, then forming pools that reflect beauty before moving on at a steady pace, ever widening, and ever reflecting what’s on shore, both small and large.

During the 1980's Knoepfle collected the available manuscript material for a study of the Miami and Peoria language systems of the midwest. He gave his collection to the Illinois State Museum, who shared the copies to the Miami and Peoria tribes in Oklahoma. Read Peoria-Miami Narratives.

The Dim Tales are the work of Henry Allison Rollins Dim, called Hardy locally. He is probably best known throughout Central Illinois- and the world too, in some ways- for his wise sayings. Most people have heard, for instance, of "the man who holds the basket the longest catches the leaf." Knoepfle found Dim's opus in a number of spiral notebooks that he bought blind at a garage sale in Zenobia, Illinos. Read The Hannibal Frogs.

During the 50's and 60's, Knoeplfe tape recorded the recollections of steamboat packet and tow rivermen of the Ohio and Mississippi river system. In Men of the Inland Rivers he writes about the work they did and the stories they told. His recordings predated the term "oral history" Read Men of the Inland rivers.