Ivory tower

Last updated
Hawksmoor Towers are representative of the stereotypical academic ivory towers, at All Souls College, Oxford at the University of Oxford UK-2014-Oxford-All Souls College 03.jpg
Hawksmoor Towers are representative of the stereotypical academic ivory towers, at All Souls College, Oxford at the University of Oxford

An ivory tower is a state of privileged seclusion from the practicalities of real life. An ivory tower can be a place where people choose to disconnect from the rest of the world to follow of their own interests, usually mental or esoteric ones. From the 19th century, it has been used to designate an environment of intellectual pursuit disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life. [1] Most contemporary uses of the term refer to academia or the college and university systems in many countries. [2] [3]

Contents

The term originated from the Biblical Song of Songs (7:4) with a different meaning and was later used as an epithet for Mary. [4]

An ivory tower, as symbol of Mary, in a "Hunt of the Unicorn Annunciation" (c. 1500) from a Netherlandish book of hours. For the complicated iconography, see Hortus Conclusus. Unicorn annunciation.jpg
An ivory tower, as symbol of Mary, in a "Hunt of the Unicorn Annunciation" (c. 1500) from a Netherlandish book of hours. For the complicated iconography, see Hortus Conclusus.

Biblical usage

In the Christian tradition, the term ivory tower is used as a symbol for noble purity. It originates with the Song of Songs 7:4 ("Your neck is like an ivory tower", Hebrew : מגדל השן, romanized: miḡdal haš-šên; in the Hebrew Masoretic text, it is found in 7:5) and was included in the epithets for Mary in the sixteenth-century Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary ("tower of ivory", turris eburnea in Latin), though the title and image were in use long before that, since the 12th-century Marian revival at least. [5] It occasionally appears in art, especially in depictions of Mary in the hortus conclusus . Although the term is rarely used in the religious sense in modern times, it is credited with inspiring the modern meaning. [6]

Modern usage

An Ivory Tower at St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College Chapel Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg
An Ivory Tower at St. John's College, Cambridge

The first modern usage of "ivory tower" in the familiar sense of an unworldly dreamer can be found in a poem of 1837, "Pensées d'Août, à M. Villemain", by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, a French literary critic and author, who used the term "tour d'ivoire" for the poetical attitude of Alfred de Vigny as contrasted with the more socially engaged Victor Hugo: "Et Vigny, plus secret, Comme en sa tour d'ivoire, avant midi rentrait". [And Vigny, the more secretive, like he was in his ivory tower, returning before midday.] [6] This poetic use of "tour d'ivoire" may have been an allusion to the rook (or castle) in chess, which is another meaning of the French word tour. Chess pieces were often made of ivory. The name Rook is derived from the Persian rukh ("chariot"), maybe influenced by the Italian rocca ("fortress"). In early versions of chess, this piece was imagined as conveying and shielding a powerful warrior.

Henry James's last novel, The Ivory Tower, was begun in 1914 and left unfinished at his death two years later. Paralleling James' own dismaying experience of the United States after twenty years away, it chronicles the effect on a high-minded returning upper-class American of the vulgar emptiness of the Gilded Age. "You seem all here so hideously rich", says his hero. Thus, there are two meanings mixed together: mockery of an absent-minded savant and admiration of someone who is able to devote his or her entire efforts to a noble cause (hence "ivory", a noble but impractical building material).[ citation needed ] The term has a rather negative flavor today, the implication being that specialists who are so deeply drawn into their fields of study often can't find a lingua franca with laymen outside their "ivory towers".

In Andrew Hodges' biography of the University of Cambridge scientist Alan Turing, he discusses Turing's 1936–38 stay at Princeton University and writes that "[t]he tower of the Graduate College was an exact replica of Magdalen College, and it was popularly called the Ivory Tower, because of that benefactor of Princeton, the Procter who manufactured Ivory soap." [7] William Cooper Procter (Princeton class of 1883) was a significant supporter of the construction of the Graduate College, and the main dining hall bears the Procter name. The skylines of Oxford and Cambridge universities, along with many Ivy League universities, are dotted with turrets and spires which are often described as 'Ivory Towers'.

In Randall Jarrell's essay "The End of the Line" (1942), Jarrell asserts that if modern poetry is to survive then poets must come down from the "Ivory Tower" of elitist composition. Jarrell's main thrust is that the rich poetry of the modernist period was over-dependent upon reference to other literary works. For Jarrell the Ivory Tower led modern poetry into obscurity. [8]

The ivory towers of King's College London's Maughan Library Kclssa.jpg
The ivory towers of King's College London's Maughan Library

Writers for Philadelphia's other newspapers sarcastically referred to the former headquarters of the establishment Philadelphia Inquirer , a white art deco tower called the Elverson Building, as the "Ivory Tower of Truth." [9] [10] [11]

Academic usage

The ivory tower is most often connected with the careers and lifestyles of academics in university and college systems. [12] [13] They have often garnered reputations as elite institutions by joining or creating associations with other universities. In many countries, these institutions aligned themselves with a specific mission or athletic ties. [14] [15] Some have criticized the elitism associated with these groups. [16]

In certain instances, these ivory-tower universities have received a disproportionate amount of regional and national funding. [17] [18] [19] They also produce a higher proportion of a country's publications and citations. They tend to be overrepresented in top university rankings, such as Academic Ranking of World Universities , QS World University Rankings , the Times Higher Education World University Rankings , and the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Turing</span> English computer scientist (1912–1954)

Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivy League</span> Athletic conference of American universities

The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference of eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and in football, in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The term Ivy League is used more broadly to refer to the eight schools that belong to the league, which are globally-renowned as elite colleges associated with academic excellence, highly selective admissions, and social elitism. The term was used as early as 1933, and it became official in 1954 following the formation of the Ivy League athletic conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Newman</span> English mathematician

Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman, FRS, generally known as Max Newman, was a British mathematician and codebreaker. His work in World War II led to the construction of Colossus, the world's first operational, programmable electronic computer, and he established the Royal Society Computing Machine Laboratory at the University of Manchester, which produced the world's first working, stored-program electronic computer in 1948, the Manchester Baby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Frost</span> American poet (1874–1963)

Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. 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 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Côte d'Ivoire</span> Country in West Africa

Côte d'Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast and officially known as the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 30.9 million inhabitants in 2023, Ivory Coast is the third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dioula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 different languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Islam, Christianity, and traditional faiths like Animism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred de Vigny</span> French poet, playwright, and novelist (1797–1863)

Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny was a French poet and early French Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve</span> French literary critic (1804–1869)

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a French literary critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I. J. Good</span> British statistician and cryptographer (1916–2009)

Irving John Good was a British mathematician who worked as a cryptologist at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing. After the Second World War, Good continued to work with Turing on the design of computers and Bayesian statistics at the University of Manchester. Good moved to the United States where he was a professor at Virginia Tech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randall Jarrell</span> American writer (1914–1965)

Randall Jarrelljə-REL was an American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, and novelist. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate of the United States.

Ivory is an American flagship personal care brand created by the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), including varieties of white and mildly scented bar soap that became famous for its claim of purity and for floating on water. Over the years, the brand has been extended to other varieties and products.

The Little Three is a term started by and used in reference to athletic competition between three private liberal arts colleges in the New England region of the United States: Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Ivies</span> Unofficial group of American liberal arts colleges

The Little Ivies are an unofficial group of small, academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States. The term Little Ivy derives from these schools' small student bodies, standards of academic excellence, associated historic social prestige, and highly selective admissions comparable to the Ivy League. According to Bloomberg, the Little Ivies are also known for their large financial endowments, both absolutely and relative to their size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">19th-century French literature</span> Literature-related events in France during the 19th century

19th-century French literature concerns the developments in French literature during a dynamic period in French history that saw the rise of Democracy and the fitful end of Monarchy and Empire. The period covered spans the following political regimes: Napoleon Bonaparte's Consulate (1799–1804) and Empire (1804–1814), the Restoration under Louis XVIII and Charles X (1814–1830), the July Monarchy under Louis Philippe d'Orléans (1830–1848), the Second Republic (1848–1852), the Second Empire under Napoleon III (1852–1871), and the first decades of the Third Republic (1871–1940).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian devotions</span> Christian religious practices concerning Mary

Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of Jesus, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, but generally rejected in other Christian denominations.

Inside the Ivory Tower is a ranking of the world's best university programs in international relations. The ranking is published by the Foreign Policy magazine in collaboration with the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Project at the College of William & Mary. The survey is based on input from "all international relations scholars employed at a college or university who have an affiliation with a political science department or school of public policy and who teach or conduct research on issues that cross international borders."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classic book</span> Exemplary or noteworthy book

A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Classics?" and "What Is a Classic?" have been essayed by authors from different genres and eras. The ability of a classic book to be reinterpreted, to seemingly be renewed in the interests of generations of readers succeeding its creation, is a theme that is seen in the writings of literary critics including Michael Dirda, Ezra Pound, and Sainte-Beuve. These books can be published as a collection or presented as a list, such as Harold Bloom's list of books that constitute the Western canon. Although the term is often associated with the Western canon, it can be applied to works of literature from all traditions, such as the Chinese classics or the Indian Vedas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide Anne Procter</span> English poet and songwriter

Adelaide Anne Procter was an English poet and philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Eliza Procter Fellowship</span>

Jane Eliza Procter Fellowships are scholarships supporting academic research at Princeton University. The Fellowships were endowed by William Cooper Procter in 1921–22, and named after his wife, Jane Eliza Johnston Procter (1864–1953). The original terms of the Fellowships were for three awards, "each with an annual stipend of two thousand dollars, upon which each year two British and one French scholar will have the privilege of residence in the Princeton Graduate College, and of pursuing advanced study and investigation". The Fellowships were to be appointed annually on the recommendation of the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the École Normale Supérieure.

The Graduate School of Princeton University is the main graduate school of Princeton University. Founded in 1869, the school is responsible for all of Princeton's master's and doctoral degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. The school offers Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MS), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in 42 disciplines. It also administers several pre-professional programs, including the Master in Finance (M.Fin.), Master of Science in engineering (M.S.E.), and Master of Engineering (M.Eng.), Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.), Master in Public Policy (M.P.P.), and Master of Architecture (M.Arch.) degrees.

<i>Turochamp</i> 1948 chess program

Turochamp is a chess program developed by Alan Turing and David Champernowne in 1948. It was created as part of research by the pair into computer science and machine learning. Turochamp is capable of playing an entire chess game against a human player at a low level of play by calculating all potential moves and all potential player moves in response, as well as some further moves it deems considerable. It then assigns point values to each game state, and selects the move resulting in the highest point value.

References

  1. Shapin, Steven (2012). "The Ivory Tower: the history of a figure of speech and its cultural uses" (PDF). The British Journal for the History of Science. 45 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1017/S0007087412000118. ISSN   1474-001X. S2CID   145660804.
  2. Professor X (2011). In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: The Truth About College. Penguin. ISBN   978-1-101-47620-8.
  3. Skowronek, Russell; Lewis, Kenneth (2010). Beneath the Ivory Tower: The Archaeology of Academia. University Press of Florida. ISBN   9780813034225.
  4. "Mary, the Ivory Tower ~ Cardinal Newman - Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman". Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. 2014-05-23. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  5. Bull, Marcus Graham (1999). The Miracles of Our Lady of Rocamadour: Analysis and Translation. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer. p. 29. ISBN   978-0-85115-765-8.
  6. 1 2 Quinion, Michael (2001-01-13). "On "Ivory Tower"". WorldWideWords.org. Retrieved 2007-04-24. The origin is the Bible, specifically Chapter 7, Verse 4 of the Song of Solomon, in which Solomon is extolling the beauty of his beloved... Not quite the thing today [...] but it struck a chord with Charles-Augustin Saint-Beuve.
  7. Hodges, Andrew (1983). Alan Turing: The Enigma. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN   978-0-671-49207-6. OCLC   10020685.
  8. Jarrell, Randall (2008). 'The End of the Line' In Cook, J. 'Poetry in Theory: An Anthology 1900-2000'. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN   978-0-631-22554-6.
  9. "Philadelphia City Paper". Archived from the original on 2014-09-20.
  10. "Philadelphia Living". Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2014-09-20.
  11. "Philadelphia Weekly". Archived from the original on 2014-09-20.
  12. Gabriel, Deborah; Tate, Shirley Anne (2017). Inside the Ivory Tower: Narratives of Women of Colour Surviving and Thriving in British Academia. UCL Institute of Education Press.
  13. Brennan, Jason; Magness, Philip (2019). Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education. Oxford University Press.
  14. "Germany to continue building its Ivy League". Science.
  15. "Eastern stars: Universities of China's C9 League excel in select fields". The World University Rankings. 17 February 2011.
  16. "South Korean education ranks high, but it's the kids who pay". The Conversation. 30 March 2015.
  17. "'Dire need': Elite universities urge parties to boost financial support for students". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 May 2019.
  18. "New report shows Ivy League schools get more federal funding than some states". The Daily Pennsylvanian.
  19. "Best universities in China 2019". The World University Rankings. 10 September 2021.