Lionel Charles Knights (15 May 1906 – 8 March 1997) was an English literary critic, an authority on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and his period. His essay ''How many children had Lady Macbeth?'' (1933) is a classic of modern criticism. He became King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in 1965.

Early life

He was born in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

and initially attended The King's School in the town, followed by

Hutchesons' Grammar School Hutchesons' Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school for pupils aged 3-18 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded as Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School by George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641 It is a selective school, ...

, Glasgow and

Cambridgeshire High School for Boys The Cambridgeshire High School for Boys was founded as the Cambridge and County School for Boys in Cambridge, England, in 1900. History It was later the Cambridge and County High School for Boys, and then finally the Cambridgeshire High School ...

.MacKillop, Ian
"Knights, Lionel Charles (1906-1997)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, October 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2018 He was educated at

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge (formally Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (18 ...

, where he read History and English, graduating with a first-class degree in 1928. In his final undergraduate year he won the Charles Oldham Shakespeare prize, shared with Humphrey Jennings. He was elected to a research scholarship at Christ's College, Cambridge in 1930, where he worked on his doctoral thesis.

Literary career

He was a co-editor of ''

Scrutiny Scrutiny (French: ''scrutin''; Late Latin: ''scrutinium''; from ''scrutari'', meaning "those who search through piles of rubbish in the hope of finding something of value" and originally from the Latin "scruta," meaning "broken things, rags, or ...

'', the literary journal of

F. R. Leavis Frank Raymond "F. R." Leavis (14 July 1895 – 14 April 1978) was an English literary critic of the early-to-mid-twentieth century. He taught for much of his career at Downing College, Cambridge, and later at the University of York. Leavis ra ...

's school, from May 15, 1932 to 1953 when it ceased publication. He was an English lecturer at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

in 1933, then Professor of English Literature at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in 1947 and the Winterstoke Professor of English at

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

in 1953. From 1965-73, he was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Barnes in 1936. They had a son, Benjamin, and a daughter, Frances. Knights died in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

in 1997.Obituary: Professor L. C. Knights
Boris Ford, Professor Henry Gifford 14 March 1997,

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

Works

*''How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth. An Essay in the Theory and Practice of Shakespeare Criticism'' (1933

*''Drama & Society in the Age of Jonson'' (1937) *''Explorations: Essays in Criticism Mainly On the Literature of the Seventeenth Century'' (1946) *''Poetry, Politics and the English Tradition'' (1954) *''Some Shakespearean Themes'' (1959) *''An Approach to 'Hamlet' ''(1960) *''Shakespeare: The Histories'' (1962) *''Further Explorations'' (1965) *''Public Voices: Literature and Politics With Special Reference to the Seventeenth Century'' (1971) *''Coleridge's Variety: Bicentennial Studies'' (1974), editor with

John Beer John Bernard Beer, FBA (31 March 1926 – 10 December 2017) was a British literary critic. He was emeritus professor of English literature at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Best known as a scholar and criti ...

*''Explorations 3: Essays in Criticism'' (1976) *''Selected Essays in Criticism'' (1981) *''Regulated Hatred and Other Essays on Jane Austen'', with D. W. Harding and Monica Lawlor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knights, LC English literary critics Academics of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge People from Grantham 1906 births 1997 deaths Academics of the University of Cambridge Shakespearean scholars Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Academics of the University of Bristol Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge 20th-century poets King Edward VII Professors of English Literature