Description
Book SynopsisWilliam Ellery Leonard was an eccentric poet, professor, and critic whose romantic ideals were set against a world whose aesthetics were fast turning away from his own. He lived a life marked by both success and dramatic failure, both personally and professionally. His first wife’s suicide would haunt him and mark one of his greatest poems, the sonnet sequence Two Lives; his translations of Lucretius and Beowulf stood as hallmarks of the craft for decades after they were published; and his political satires written in response to the University sphere he lived and worked in remain as effective today as they once were.
Trade ReviewWilliam Ellery Leonard was an eccentric poet and professor and critic who produced poems based on his life experiences and whose translations of Lucretius and Beowulf became accepted classics of literature: it's fitting that a biography of his life and works should incorporate the influences that molded his literary expertise. College-level students of his works will find this an outstanding critical coverage adding much to any collection in 20th-century literary figures, with chapters offering footnotes of reference, plenty of analysis of his works with liberal quotes throughout, and all the tools needed to understand Leonard's ongoing influence. * Bookwatch *
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Prologue: Sixteen St. Luke’s Place I. The Young Professor 1906-1907 II. Marriage and Tragedy 1909-1911 III. A Son of New England 1876-1898 IV. Choosing a Career 1898-1906 V. The Wound and the Bow 1911-1913 VI. The Translator’s Experience and Art 1914-1916 VII. The World Outside 1914-1920 VIII. From Heroic Poetry to Personal Drama 1920-1923 IX. The Lives of Two Lives 1925 X. Professor and Patient 1922-1925 XI. The Locomotive-God 1926-1931 XII. A Scholar’s World 1920-1934 XIII. First Love, Last Poem 1932-1942 XIV. A Quiet, Peaceful Life 1940-1944 Epilogue: “Famed for Phobia” Bibliography About the Author
