George Lyman Kittredge
| George Lyman Kittredge | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 28, 1860 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | July 23, 1941 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | English professor, folklorist |
George Lyman Kittredge (February 28, 1860 – July 23, 1941) was a celebrated professor and scholar of English literature at Harvard University. His scholarly edition of the works of William Shakespeare as well as his writings and lectures on Shakespeare and other literary figures made him one of the most influential American literary critics of the early 20th century. He was also of great importance in American folklore studies, continuing the work of his mentor, Francis James Child, the first person to hold a chair at Harvard (created especially in his honor) dedicated to the study of English literature and author of a definitive five-volume comparative study of the English and Scottish popular ballad. As a folklorist Kittredge was instrumental in encouraging American folk song and folklore collecting among all ethnic groups in all regions of the country.
Kittredge was born in Boston in 1860. His father, Edward "Kit" Lyman Kittredge, had participated in the California Gold Rush of 1849, been shipwrecked, and had walked 700 miles across the desert before returning to Boston to marry a widow, Mrs. Deborah Lewis Benson, and start a family. Their precocious and bookish son George attended The Roxbury Latin School, which then had about 100 pupils. George consistently led his class in marks and won a scholarship to Harvard, which he entered in 1878. As a Freshman, he lived at home in Boston and walked to Harvard every day to save money. In his Freshman year, Kittredge came in second in his class of 181 to mathematician Frank Nelson Cole, but in Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years he was first, garnering highest honors in his chosen field of classics.
While at Harvard Kittredge also joined several clubs and societies, wrote light verse, and won numerous consecutive Bowdoin prizes for his essays and translations, including one from English into Attic Greek. He also became a member of the editorial board of the Harvard Advocate. In 1881 Kittredge was the prompter and pronunciation coach in a celebrated theatrical performance by undergraduates of Sophocles's Oedipus the King in the original Greek that was attended by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Julia Ward Howe, William Dean Howells, Charles Eliot Norton, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and classicist B. L. Gildersleeve of Johns Hopkins University among other luminaries. As an undergraduate, Kittredge also read widely outside of class, and became known as a witty after dinner speaker. In 1882, he was elected Ivy Orator (chosen to deliver a humorous speech) of his graduating class. Graduating with Kittredge that year was Owen Wister, author of the first Western novel, The Virginian.
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