Harold Clarke Goddard

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Harold Clarke Goddard (August 13, 1878-February 27, 1950) was a professor in the English Department of Swarthmore College.

Swarthmore College liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, Swarthmore was one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established to be a college "...under the care of Friends, at which an education may be obtained equal to that of the best institutions of learning in our country." By 1906, Swarthmore had dropped its religious affiliation and became officially non-sectarian.

Contents

Biography

Born on August 13, 1878 in Worcester, Massachusetts he attended Amherst College, graduating in 1900. He then taught mathematics there for two years. An interest in literature led him to Columbia University, where he received a PhD. in English and Comparative Literature in 1909. He taught at Northwestern University from 1904 to 1909. From 1909 to his retirement in 1946, he was head of the English Department at Swarthmore College. He died in 1950. Although often believed to be a Quaker, Goddard was never a full member.[ citation needed ]

Worcester, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Worcester is a city in, and the county seat of, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population was 181,045, making it the second most populous city in New England after Boston. Worcester is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston, 50 miles (80 km) east of Springfield and 40 miles (64 km) north of Providence. Due to its location in Central Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth", thus, a heart is the official symbol of the city. However, the heart symbol may also have its provenance in lore that the Valentine's Day card, although not invented in the city, was mass-produced and popularized by Esther Howland who resided in Worcester.

Amherst College liberal arts college in Massachusetts

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher education in Massachusetts. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Lord Jeffery Amherst. Originally established as a men's college, Amherst became coeducational in 1975.

Columbia University Private Ivy League research university in New York City

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Established in 1754, Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It is one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence, seven of which belong to the Ivy League. It has been ranked by numerous major education publications as among the top ten universities in the world.

He was married to Fanny Whiting Goddard (a native of Worcester as well), and they had two daughters, Eleanor Goddard Worthen and Margaret Goddard Holt.[ citation needed ] The entire family was involved in teaching:

Dr. Goddard's peculiar genius lay in the fact that, whatever the book he laid before us, it presently became apparent that we were in fact studying and expanding all our range of possible understanding. Through the medium of literature he taught philosophy, psychology, and always the pursuit of meaning and the zest for life that great art is. The whole Goddard family joined in this. It is correct to refer to a seminar with "the Goddards." The family had an exciting symphonic quality which brought alive the search for meaning and beauty which we were learning to impose upon ourselves. The same art spirit ran through Eleanor's music, Margaret's painting and Mrs. Goddard's blue delphinium. [1]

Harold Bloom, a professor of humanities at Yale University, wrote this:

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.

Yale University private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution.

Harold Goddard's The Meaning of Shakespeare is a work fully in the tradition of Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, and A.C. Bradley. This superb commentary upon all of Shakespeare's plays has been an inspiration for me for half a century, and I never tire of recommending it passionately to my own students. [2]

The Meaning of Shakespeare (1951) was written by Harold Clarke Goddard. A chapter is devoted to each of thirty-seven plays by William Shakespeare, ranging from three pages for The Comedy of Errors to over 50 for Henry V. Three additional chapters treat larger themes.

Samuel Johnson English poet, biographer, essayist, and lexicographer

Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. He was a devout Anglican and a generous philanthropist. Politically, he was a committed Tory. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is the subject of James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, described by Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature".

William Hazlitt 19th-century English essayist and critic

William Hazlitt was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print.

The Meaning of Shakespeare is the only book of Dr. Goddard's currently in print.[ citation needed ] Though it was originally published as a single hardback volume in 1951, The Meaning of Shakespeare is now published in two paperback volumes. Volume 1 contains this line which is characteristic of the book: "The greatest poetry has always depicted the world as a little citadel of nobility threatened by an immense barbarism, a flickering candle surrounded by infinite night." [3]

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Manas Journal Vol. XXI No. 27 (November 20, 1968)
  2. ↑ From the back cover Harold C. Goddard's The Meaning of Shakespeare , volume 2, as currently in print from the University of Chicago Press.
  3. ↑ The Meaning of Shakespeare (1951), The University of Chicago Press, page 335.
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