William Peterfield Trent,
LL.D.
Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...
,
D.C.L. (10 November 1862 – 7 December 1939) was an American academic and the author/editor of many books. He was a professor of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
literature at
Sewanee: The University of the South and
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. While at Sewanee, he founded the ''
Sewanee Review
''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism.
History
''Th ...
'' in 1892, a literary journal that continues to operate.
Early life
Trent was born in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
. His grandfather, Joseph Trent, had an M.D. degree from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. His father, Peterfield Trent, also became a doctor and served as a surgeon for the
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
during the war. His mother, née Lucy Carter Burwell, came from a long line of Virginians.
Trent was first educated at Thomas Norwood's University School. In 1880 he began studying at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, where his fellow students included
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
and
Oscar W. Underwood
Oscar Wilder Underwood (May 6, 1862 – January 25, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician from Alabama, and also a candidate for President of the United States in 1912 and 1924. He was the first formally designated floor leader in the Unit ...
. Here he became the editor of the ''Virginia University Magazine'' before graduation. He left with a master of arts. In 1887 he began studying at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
. He was a member of the Seminary of Historical Political Science, which was directed by
Herbert B. Adams. It was rare for a student to read more than one report per academic year for the Seminary, but Trent read three.
Career
While still at university, Trent accepted an offer to teach at
Sewanee: The University of the South. He served as professor of English and the acting professor of history in
Sewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Sewanee is best known as the home of ...
, from 1888 until 1900, and from 1893 was dean of the academic department.
While there, he founded (1892) and edited ''
The Sewanee Review
''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism.
History
''Th ...
''. He also created the Sewannee Historical Society at the University of the South. He was a speaker at the Vanderbilt Southern History Society at Nashville. Both groups were developed to build a stronger collection of history documents and books in the South.
In 1900, Trent became professor of English literature at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. There he turned his attention to the study of
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
and to
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
history and literature of the 1680 to 1730 period. He edited ''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
'' and wrote a biography and bibliography of Defoe in ten volumes (in manuscript to 1916). He collaborated in numerous literary undertakings, for example ''Colonial Prose and Poetry'', editions of Shakespeare and Thackeray and the ''Cambridge History of American Literature''.
Personal life and death
In 1896 William P. Trent married Alice Lyman. They had two children, Lucia Trent and William P. Trent Jr.
[William Peterfield Trent Papers, 1865-1944](_blank)
at unc.edu He resided in
Hopewell Junction, New York
Hopewell Junction is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 1330 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical ...
.
Trent died on December 7, 1939 in Hopewell Junction.
Works
![Edgar Allan Poe - a centenary tribute](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Edgar_Allan_Poe_-_a_centenary_tribute.djvu)
* ''English Culture in Virginia'' (1889)
* ''William Gilmore Simms'' (1892)
* ''Southern Statesmen of the Old Régime'' (1897)
* ''The Authority of Criticism'' (1899)
* ''Robert E. Lee'' (1899)
* ''John Milton'' (1899)
* ''War and Civilization'' (1901)
* ''Progress of the United States during the Nineteenth Century'' (1901)
* ''A History of American Literature 1807-1865'' (1903)
* ''A Brief History of American Literature'' (1904)
* ''Greatness in Literature, and Literary Addresses'' (1905)
* ''Longfellow and Other Essays'' (1910)
* ''Great American Writers'' (with
John Erskine) (1912)
* ''Defoe — How to Know Him'' (1916)
* ''A New South View of Reconstruction''
Edited works:
* ''Select Poems of Milton'' (1895)
* ''Essays of Macaulay'' (1897)
* ''Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe'' (1898)
* Balzac's ''Comédie Humaine'', school text (1900)
* ''Colonial Prose and Poetry'', school text (with
B. W. Wells
Benjamin Willis Wells (31 January 1856 – 1923) was a United States scholar and editor.
Biography
Wells graduated from Harvard in 1877 and took his PhD from Harvard in 1880. Afterwards, he studied for a while in Berlin. He was a fellow of J ...
, 3 vols., 1901)
* ''Southern Writers, Selections in Prose and Verse'' (1905)
Notes
References
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Finding aid to William Peterfield Trent papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trent, William Peterfield
1862 births
1939 deaths
American academics of English literature
American bibliographers
American biographers
American book editors
Columbia University faculty
Historians from New York (state)
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Journalists from Virginia
People from Hopewell Junction, New York
University of Virginia alumni
Writers from Richmond, Virginia
Writers from Tennessee
People born in the Confederate States