George Mills Harper (born November 5, 1914, in

Linn Creek Linn Creek is a city in Camden County, Missouri, United States. The population was 216 at the 2020 census. The original Linn Creek, which was the original county seat of Camden County, Missouri, is now under water, in the Lake of the Ozarks. ...

, Missouri - died on January 29, 2006, in Tallahassee, Florida) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

academic, a

WW2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

U.S. Navy officer and professor emeritus of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. Harper is remembered today, mainly, as a literary scholar of the Irish poet and mystic,

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, who was a Nobel laureate in literature (1923). He is known for his prolific publications and authoritative books about Yeats's lifelong occult activity and interests, which began and developed early in his poetical career. Harper was also, for a much lesser extent, an academic scholar of the Neoplatonism of William Blake.

Military service

Living in Chapel Hill, NC, Harper joined the U.S. Navy on May 4, 1942, and was assigned to Frontier Base Mayport, FL. During World War II, he served as executive officer of the Receiving Station, Naval Supply Depot, and Naval Detachment in Oran, Algeria, and commanding officer of the Naval Detachment, Naples, Italy. Harper was released from Active Duty on October 3, 1946. He remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve until retirement. During his reserve career, Harper served as Commanding Officer, Naval Reserve Surface Battalion 6-9, Sixth Naval District, Durham, North Carolina. He moved to Tallahassee, FL in 1970. He retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve on November 5, 1974.

Academic career

Harper received his Ph.D. in English in 1951 from the University of North Carolina. He was also a Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. He previously served as professor and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Tech and chairman of the English departments at the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an author and editor of 12 books, primarily concerning the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Among his many published books about

, were Yeats's Golden Dawn, W. B. Yeats and W.T. Horton, Yeats and the Occult (as an editor). Further publications were: A Critical Edition of Yeats's A Vision (1925) (editor with W.K. Hood), and The Making of Yeats's A Vision and Yeats's Vision Papers books series. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, for his contributions to Yeats' studies. In regard to the contributions to the scholarship of William Blake, Harper wrote and published his book, The Neoplatonism of William Blake. Another contribution to the Neoplatonism studies was his collaboration with Kathleen Raine in writing the book

Thomas Taylor Thomas Taylor may refer to: Military *Thomas H. Taylor (1825–1901), Confederate States Army colonel *Thomas Happer Taylor (1934–2017), U.S. Army officer; military historian and author; triathlete *Thomas Taylor (Medal of Honor) (born 1834), Am ...

the Platonist: Selected Writings.

Select bibliography

* ''The Neoplatonism of William Blake.'' The University of North Carolina Press. 1961 * ''Yeats's Golden Dawn''. Macmillan. 1974. ISBN 978-0333150306 * ''Yeats and the Occult.'' GM Harper, editor. Macmillan. 1976 * ''The Making of Yeats's'' Vision: ''A Study of the Automatic Script''. 2 vols. Macmillan. 1987. Vol. I: ISBN 978-1349056248; Vol II: ISBN 978-0809313433; Two volume set: ISBN 978-0333414095. * ''Yeats's'' Vision ''Papers.'' 4 vols. George Mills Harper, general editor and Mary Jane Harper, editorial assistant. Macmillan. 1992 (vol. I-III), 2001 (vol. IV). Vol I: ISBN 0-333-49443-1; Vol. II: ISBN 0-333-49442-3; Vol. III: ISBN 0-333-49444-X; Vol IV: ISBN 0-333-91326-4.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, George 1914 births 2006 deaths W. B. Yeats scholars William Blake scholars University of Florida faculty United States Navy personnel of World War II University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Florida State University faculty University of North Carolina faculty