Bread Loaf School of English

Last updated July 08, 2019

The Bread Loaf School of English is the graduate school of English at Middlebury College, Vermont, United States. The School offers graduate courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Classes are held for six weeks each summer. The School awards two degrees. Each year, approximately 90 students earn a Master of Arts (M.A.) and 5 or fewer students earn a Master of Letters (M.Litt), for which an M.A. is a prerequisite. Each degree can be completed in four to five intensive summers spread over different campuses.

See also: British literature

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. It was founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, making it the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,526 undergraduates from all 50 states and 74 countries and offers 44 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences.

A Master of Arts is a person who was admitted to a type of master's degree awarded by universities in many countries, and the degree is also named Master of Arts in colloquial speech. The degree is usually contrasted with the Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree typically study linguistics, history, communication studies, diplomacy, public administration, political science, or other subjects within the scope of the humanities and social sciences; however, different universities have different conventions and may also offer the degree for fields typically considered within the natural sciences and mathematics. The degree can be conferred in respect of completing courses and passing examinations, research, or a combination of the two.

Founding and history

In 1915, the first of the Middlebury Language Schools was founded. As the German School and, subsequently, other Language Schools were founded, Middlebury decided to begin a similar school for the teaching of English literature. The Bread Loaf School of English was established in 1920.^[1]

Poet Robert Frost was involved in the first half-century of the Bread Loaf School. He purchased a 150-acre farm in the immediate vicinity (now owned by Middlebury College and known as the Robert Frost Farm) and subsequently spent more than 40 summers lecturing at the School.^[1]

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

The Robert Frost Farm, also known as the Homer Noble Farm, is a National Historic Landmark in Ripton, Vermont. It is a 150-acre (61 ha) farm property off Vermont Route 125 in the Green Mountains where American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) lived and wrote in the summer and fall months from 1939 until his death in 1963. The property, historically called the Homer Noble Farm, includes a nineteenth-century farmhouse and a rustic wooden writing cabin. The property is now owned by Middlebury College. The grounds are open to the public during daylight hours.

Faculty and staff

In addition to Robert Frost, prominent faculty and staff have included Carlos Baker, Harold Bloom, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Cleanth Brooks, John Ciardi, Donald Davidson, Bernard DeVoto, Elizabeth Drew, Charles Edward Eaton, Richard Ellmann, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Dixie Goswami, John P. Marquand, Perry Miller, Paul Muldoon, John Crowe Ransom, Theodore Roethke, William Sloane, Tracy K. Smith, Wylie Sypher, Edward Weismiller, and William Carlos Williams.^[2]

Carlos Baker was an American writer, biographer and former Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature at Princeton University. He earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton respectively. Baker's published works included several novels and books of poetry and various literary criticisms and essays.

Harold Bloom is an American literary critic and Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. Since the publication of his first book in 1959, Bloom has written more than forty books, including twenty books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and a novel. He has edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Catherine Drinker Bowen was an American writer best known for her biographies. She won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1958.

Campuses

Bread Loaf Mountain campus

The School of English's central location is Middlebury College's 1,800-acre (730 ha) mountain campus in Ripton, Vermont, 12 miles (19 km) east of Middlebury on a plateau within sight of Bread Loaf Mountain. Between 1860 and 1910, Joseph Battell acquired vast tracts of land and left 31,000 acres (13,000 ha) to Middlebury College upon his death in 1915. The College sold nearly all property to form the core of the Green Mountain National Forest in the 1930s and 1950s, but retained the mountain campus and the rustic summer resort Battell developed. In addition to hosting the School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the mountain campus is home to Middlebury College's Rikert Ski Touring Center during the winter months.

Joseph Battell was a publisher and philanthropist from Middlebury, Vermont. Battell is credited with preserving Vermont forest land including the land for Camel's Hump State Park. Battell edited a newspaper, the Middlebury Register, and authored several books, including the "American Morgan Horse Registry". He donated his horse farm to the federal Morgan horse breeding program, and is credited by some as saving the breed. In addition, he served at the Vermont Legislature and as a trustee for Middlebury College.

Green Mountain National Forest is a national forest located in Vermont, a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest typical of the New England/Acadian forests ecoregion. The forest supports a variety of wildlife, including beaver, moose, coyote, black bear, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and ruffed grouse. The forest, being situated in Vermont's Green Mountains, has been referred to as the granite backbone of the state.

The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by The New Yorker "the oldest and most prestigious writers' conference in the country." Bread Loaf is a program of Middlebury College and at its inception was closely associated with Robert Frost, who attended a total of 29 sessions.

The campus consists of two-dozen clapboard buildings serving as dormitories, classrooms, and social space. An additional seven cottages are located within one mile of the main campus. The Bread Loaf Inn, which now acts as a dormitory and dining hall, was built in 1861 and subsequently expanded in the Second Empire style.^[3] The campus is known for its distinctive mustard-colored buildings dating from Battell's era; structures built since 1915 are painted white and generally of the Colonial revival-style.

The campus hosts around 250 students every summer.

Other campuses

The Lincoln College, Oxford location was first used in 1978 and enrolls about 90 students each year; Bread Loaf School of English uses Lincoln College's facilities during the University of Oxford's long summer vacation. The New Mexico campus at St. John's College, Santa Fe, has enrolled 80 students every summer since 1991.

Related Research Articles

Middlebury is the shire town of Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,496 at the 2010 census. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.

John Martin Thomas was the ninth president of Middlebury College, the ninth president of Penn State, and the twelfth president of Rutgers University.

John Wolcott Stewart American lawyer and politician

John Wolcott Stewart was an American lawyer and politician from Vermont. He served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives and as the 33rd Governor of Vermont before serving in the United States House of Representatives and briefly in the United States Senate.

Windham College was a liberal arts college located in Putney, Vermont on the campus of what is now Landmark College.

Vermont Route 125 is a 35.901-mile-long (57.777 km) state highway in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The route begins at an intersection for VT 17 in the town of Addison near the Champlain Bridge. The route runs through the towns of Bridport, Middlebury, Ripton and the Green Mountain National Forest before reaching a junction with VT 100 in Hancock. Parts of VT 125 from Bridport to Middlebury were designated as Vermont Route F-8 by 1926, but was truncated by 1931 to a segment between West Bridport and VT 30A. The section between VT 30A and Middlebury had been designated as Vermont Route 19. VT 19 began at VT 17 in Chimney Point, terminating at VT 30 in Middlebury. VT 125 had been designated between US 7 in Middlebury to VT 100 in Hancock by 1935, but by 1949, had absorbed the entirety of VT 19 to Chimney Point.

Paul Dwight Moody, son of famed evangelical minister Dwight L. Moody, served as pastor at South Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, VT from 1912 to 1917 and as the 10th president of Middlebury College from 1921 until 1943. During his tenure, two of Middlebury's most important institutions, the Bread Loaf School of English and the Middlebury College Language Schools saw growth in both quality and reputation. One of Moody's chief goals was the creation of a wholly separate women's college at Middlebury, as opposed to the semi-integrated system that had prevailed since women were first accepted in 1883. However, the Great Depression and World War II ultimately stymied his efforts at segregation by gender.

Middlebury College Snow Bowl Ski area in Vermont, US

The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, 13 miles (21 km) east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than 110 acres (0.45 km²) of terrain. In 2006, it became the first carbon-neutral ski area in the United States.

The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) is a summer language immersion program for pre-college students in 8th-12th grades. Founded in 2008 by Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the Language Academy convenes on two college campuses in the United States and at three abroad locations. Languages taught at MMLA include Arabic, French, German, Chinese and Spanish.

The Middlebury Language Schools, starting with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 11 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The Schools all use an immersion-based approach to language instruction and acquisition. All students in the Language Schools must sign and abide by Middlebury College's "Language Pledge", a pledge to use their target language exclusively during the duration of their time at the School.

Robert Pack is an American poet and critic, and Distinguished Senior Professor in the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana - Missoula. For thirty-four years he taught at Middlebury College and from 1973 to 1995 served as director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. He is the author of twenty-two books of poetry and criticism. Pack has been called, by Harold Bloom, an heir to Robert Frost and Edwin Arlington Robinson, and has himself published a volume of admiring essays on Frost's poetry. He has co-edited several books with Jay Parini, including Writers on Writing: A Breadloaf Anthology.

Bread Loaf is an unincorporated community within the town of Ripton in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The community is on the west flank of Bread Loaf Mountain. The community formerly had a post office, but it is now closed.

References

1 2 "Bread Loaf's History - Middlebury". middlebury.edu.
↑ Robert Frost at Bread Loaf. Midddigital.middlebury.edu. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.
↑ Andres, Glenn. "A Walking History of Middlebury / The Mountain Campus". midddigital.middlebury.edu.

External links

Official website

Coordinates: 43°57′12″N72°59′33″W / 43.9534°N 72.9926°W / 43.9534; -72.9926

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[middlebury.edu-1] 1 2 "Bread Loaf's History - Middlebury". middlebury.edu.

[2] Robert Frost at Bread Loaf. Midddigital.middlebury.edu. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.

[3] Andres, Glenn. "A Walking History of Middlebury / The Mountain Campus". midddigital.middlebury.edu.