SOURCE: “Publishing a Book of Mormon Poetry: The Harp of Zion,” in Brigham Young University Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, Winter, 1987, pp. 85-95.

In the following excerpt, Lyon discusses the life and work of John Lyon, the unofficial poet laureate of the Mormon religion in Great Britain and the author of The Harp of Zion, the first book of poetry published by a member of the LDS church.

In 1848 James Brady, a poor Irishman living in Scotland, was baptized into the LDS church. Five years later he still was well acquainted with poverty but with the help of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund was able to heed Church counsel to flee “Babylon” and emigrate to America. En route to “Zion,” while in St. Louis, Missouri, he wrote to friends in Scotland, recalling the tight financial circumstances surrounding his departure: “When I left Glasgow I had 5 shillings and I gave 3 [shillings] and...