Ritchie Girvan (1877 – c. 1958) was a Scottish literary scholar, author, and academic; throughout his career he was associated with the University of Glasgow, where he made his name studying the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

poem ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

''. He is best known for his 1935 book ''Beowulf and the Seventh Century: Language and Content''.

Life

Girvan was born in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing ...

, Argyllshire, Scotland in 1877; his mother was Mary Girvan of Milknowe Terrace, Campbeltown. Girvan began his studies at Glasgow in 1894, taking his MA in 1889. He became an English Language lecturer at the university in 1907, remaining there for the rest of his career; he was made professor in 1947. He was awarded an honorary LLD by the university in 1950, and served as Dean of Faculties between 1954 and 1958.

''Beowulf'' criticism

Girvan is best known for his 1935 book ''Beowulf and the Seventh Century: Language and Content''; Reviewing the book for ''Modern Language Notes'' in 1938, Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie noted that Girvan dates ''

'' to about 680–700, earlier than generally accepted at that time, and that Girvan generalizes where details of word forms are important. He notes also that the poem cannot be used as a guide to life at the time of the Anglo-Saxon migration to England (c. 550) because of the long period between then and the time of writing. However Girvan accepts "the accuracy of the poet's knowledge regarding Geatish history ... ndthe historicity of Beowulf as king of the Geats." Dobbie writes that "some of this may seem very far-fetched, ... but his book, as an honest and unprejudiced attempt to reconcile the inconsistent and often baffling evidence, deserves earnest consideration from every student of the poem." Girvan's work on ''Beowulf'' is mentioned and critiqued in

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's '' Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics'':

Legacy

While a professor at Glasgow, Girvan presented a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window to Hyndland Parish Church, Glasgow. The window depicts the "Old Covenant and New Covenant" of the Bible, though it is often called the "Nativity" window because of its depiction of scenes from Jesus's childhood.

Selected works

* ''Angelsaksisch Handboek'' (= Oudgermaansche Handboeken 4) (1931), Haarlem. * ''Beowulf and the Seventh Century: Language and Content'' (1935), Methuen. * ''Finnsburuh'' (1940), Proceedings of the British Academy 26: 327–60.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girvan, Ritchie 1877 births Literature of England Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow 1950s deaths