John Peebles McClure was born in Ardmore, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory (located in Oklahoma) to John Alexander and Mary Elizabeth Peebles McClure. His mother died in 1896 and the family moved several times, finally settling in Chickasha around 1901.
John attended both public and private schools before entering the University of Oklahoma in 1911.
After getting his Bachelor of Arts in 1915, he worked at the university library. During World War I he served in the United States. Army cavalry and in the field artillery. In 1919, the McClures moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where they opened a bookstore.
McClure also worked as a copy editor for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
He was to maintain a professional relationship with the Times-Picayune for 33 years, rising to managing editors McClure published his first poem in the London magazine The Egoist in 1914.
His early style was influenced by William Blake, by English and Scottish ballads, and by Elizabeth lyric poetry. As his reputation grew, he published in a wide range of American literary magazines, including The American Mercury and Smart Secretariat.
H. L. Mencken, co-editor of Smart Secretariat, considered McClure the "finest lyric poet" the nation had produced in fifty years.
McClure"s books includes Airs and Ballads (a collection of his own poems, 1918) and The Stag"s Hornbook (a collection of drinking songs, 1918). McClure died in New Orleans on February 8, 1956.
