Heathcote William Garrod ( 21 January 1878 – 25 December 1960) was a British

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and literary scholar.

Early life and education

Garrod was born in

Wells, Somerset Wells () is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, south-east of Weston-super-Mare, south-west of Bath and south of Bristol. Although the population recorde ...

, the fifth of six children of solicitor Charles William Garrod and his wife, Louisa (''née'' Ashby). He attended

Bath College Bath College is a Further Education college in the centre of Bath, Somerset and in Westfield, Somerset, England. It was formed in April 2015 by the merger of City of Bath College and Norton Radstock College. The College also offers Higher Edu ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. He received the 1900

Gaisford prize The Gaisford Prize is a prize in the University of Oxford, founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855). For most of its history, the prize was awarded for Classical Greek Verse and Prose. The prizes now include the Gaisford Ess ...

for Greek prose, and in 1901 the Newdigate Prize for an English poem. Following a first class in the Final Honour School of Literae Humaniores in the summer term of 1901, he was in October that year elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, a position he kept for over 60 years.

Career

In June 1902 he was appointed to an assistant tutorship at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

. Although educated primarily in classics, Garrod became more interested in English literature. His 1923 work, ''Wordsworth: Lectures and Essays'' was well received and led to his position as

Oxford Professor of Poetry The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time po ...

from 1923 to 1928. In 1925, he resigned his tutorship in classics at Oxford for a research fellowship in English, which had been vacant after the death of

W. P. Ker William Paton Ker, FBA (30 August 1855 – 17 July 1923), was a Scottish literary scholar and essayist. Life Born in Glasgow in 1855, Ker studied at Glasgow Academy, the University of Glasgow, and Balliol College, Oxford. He was appointed ...

. From 1929 to 1930, Garrod was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Garrod published a series of critical studies, essays and lectures on various English writers and poets, including ''The Profession of Poetry'' (1929); ''Poetry and the Criticism of Life'' (1931); ''Keats: a Critical Appreciation'' (1926); and ''Collins'' (1928). His 1939 and 1958 works on

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

in the series ''Oxford English Texts'' remains an important book for scholars.

First World War

During the First World War, he worked on the civilian side, first with the Ministry of Munitions and then in the Ministry of Reconstruction. He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

for his efforts. Though the remark is frequently attributed to others more famous, more reliable sources give him as the person who, when accosted by a woman during the First World War asking why he was not with the soldiers fighting to defend civilization, replied: "Madam, I am the civilization they are fighting to defend."''Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes''
eds. Clifton Fadiman & André Bernard (1985; Little, Brown & Co., 2000), 228. Retrieved 9 December 2009.

Honours

In addition to the CBE, Garrod received honorary doctorates from the University of Durham (DLitt, 1930) and the University of Edinburgh (LLD, 1953). He was elected a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in 1931. Garrod, who never married, died at the Acland Nursing Home in Oxford on Christmas Day 1960.

Works

*'' Statii Thebais et Achilleis'' (Oxford, 1906) editor (second edition in 1926, reprinted in 1951) *''Opvs epistolarvm Des Erasmi Roterdami'' (1906) editor with H. M. Allen *''The Religion of All Good Men: And Other Studies in Christian Ethics'' (1906) *''Manili Astronomicon Liber II'' (1911) *''The Oxford Book of Latin Verse'' (1912) *''Oxford Poems'' (John Lane 1912) *''Einhard's Life of Charlemagne'' (1915) editor with R. B. Mowat *''Wordsworth: Lectures and Essays'' (1923) *''Byron 1824–1924'' (1924) *''The Profession of Poetry'', Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Poetry, University of Oxford, 13 February 1924 (1924) *''Coleridge Poetry and Prose with Essays By Hazlitt, Jeffrey, De Quincey, Carlyle & Others '' (1925) editor *''Keats'' (1926) *''Merton Muniments'' (1928) with P. S. Allen *''The Poetry of Collins'' (1928) Warton Lecture *''The Profession of Poetry and other lectures'' (1929) *''Poetry and the Criticism of Life'' (1931) *''Ancient Painted Glass in Merton College Oxford'' (1931) *''Tolstoi's Theory of Art'' (1935)

Taylorian Lecture The Taylorian Lecture, sometimes referred to as the "Special Taylorian Lecture" or "Taylorian Special Lecture", is a prestigious annual lecture on Modern European Literature, delivered at the Taylor Institution in the University of Oxford since 188 ...

*''Opera Flacci, Q. Horati'' (1941) editor with Edward C. Wickham *''Epigrams'' (1946) *''List of the Writings of H. W. Garrod'' (1947) *''John Donne; Poetry and Prose with Izaac Walton's Life. Appreciations By Ben Jonson, Dryden, Coleridge and Others'' (1948) *''Genius Loci and other essays'' (1950) *''Poetical Works of John Keats'' (1956) *''Study of Good Letters'' (1963)

References

Additional sources

*J.A. Smith, ''The Nature of Art : An Open Letter to the Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford'', Oxford : Oxford University Press (1924) *John Jones, "Heathcote William Garrod. 1878–1960," Proceedings of the British Academy 48 (1962) 357–370 *J. Carey, ''The Unexpected Professor : An Oxford Life in Books'', London : Faber & Faber (2014) 138-42

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrod, HW 1878 births 1960 deaths People from Wells, Somerset British classical scholars Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Oxford Professors of Poetry Classical scholars of the University of Oxford Harvard University faculty Commanders of the Order of the British Empire