“The poems of this volume, gathered here after many requests, are, with a few exceptions, from my previous lyrical publications. They are also in a real sense an intimate record. For the sea has often enough seemed to me almost as a vast external sub consciousness in which the forces of my being—as well as the world's—were at play.”
Cale Young Rice (December 7, 1872 – January 24, 1943) 

Young Rice was born in Dixon, Kentucky, to Laban Marchbanks Rice, a Confederate veteran and tobacco merchant, and his wife Martha Lacy. He was a younger brother of Laban Lacy Rice, a noted educator. Cale Rice grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at Cumberland University and at Harvard (A.B., 1895; A.M., 1896).

He was married to the popular author Alice Hegan Rice; they worked together on several books. The marriage was childless, and Cale committed suicide by gunshot during the night of January 23–24 at his home in Louisville a year after her death due to his sorrow at losing her.

Cale Rice's poems were collected and published in a single volume by his brother, Laban Lacy Rice.

His birthplace in Dixon is designated by Kentucky State Historical Marker 1508, which reads:
"Birthplace of Rice brothers, Cale Young, 1872-1943, noted poet and author; Laban Lacy, 1870-1973, well-known educator and author. Lacy published The Best Poetic Works of Cale Young Rice after Cale's death. Included in famous collection is poem, "The Mystic." Cale married Alice Hegan, also a distinguished Kentucky writer. Home overlooks Memorial Garden."