William Winter (July 15, 1836 – June 30, 1917) was an American dramatic critic and author.

Biography

William Winter was born on July 15, 1836 in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

. He graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1857. Winter wore many literary hats during his long, illustrious career: theater critic, biographer, poet, and essayist. He is known for his Romantic style poetry, and for his long career as an editor and writer for some of New York City's great papers. Winter was a tour de force in the original Bohemian scene of Greenwich Village, going on to become one of the most influential men of letters of the last half of the 19th century and the pre-eminent drama critic and biographer of the times. Winter became the unofficial biographer of the Pfaff's Circle of Greenwich Village of which he was a part. The Pfaffians spawned the careers of such writers as Walt Whitman and

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. By 1854 Winter had already published a collection of verse and worked as a reviewer for the Boston Transcript; he befriended Pfaffian Thomas Bailey Aldrich after reviewing a volume of his poetry. He relocated to New York in 1856. Winter became a regular at the center of Greenwich Village's Bohemian hotspot, Pfaff's, where artists, renegades, and radical thinkers of all kinds converged. This was where

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...

Adah Isaacs Menken Adah Isaacs Menken (June 15, 1835August 10, 1868) was an American actress, painter and poet, and was the highest earning actress of her time.Palmer, Pamela Lynn"Adah Isaacs Menken" ''Handbook of Texas Online,'' published by the Texas State Histor ...

, Ada Clara,

Horatio Alger Jr Horatio Alger Jr. (; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through good works. His wri ...

and an endless list of the Bohemian crowd came to mix with the journalists and radical political thinkers of the times. It was where one came to explore a new counter-culture in the Village, a salon of the Civil War era where the unconventional literati would gather-a place where no topic was off limits and all eccentricities were embraced. Winter was at the heart of this influential circle known as The Pfaffians who gathered weekly at the Vault at Pfaff's Beer Hall on Broadway and Bleeker. The Pfaff Bohemians would lay the foundation for Winter's entire life and career as both a poet and a writer. He later described some of his life as a young Pfaffian, describing the extraordinary scene and the many great minds he encountered in his biography Old Friends (1909). He also wrote introductions and brief biographies for the editions of the collected works of Pfaff's regulars like Fitz James O'Brien, John Brougham, and George Arnold. "The vault at Pfaffs where the drinkers and laughers meet to eat and drink and carouse." —Walt Whitman At Pfaff's, Winter quickly was embraced due to his great wit and writing talents, becoming the right-hand man to Henry Clapp Jr's circle of Pfaffian's. Clapp soon made him assistant editor and literary critic to one of the first truly Bohemian publications in America, the literary and social commentary weekly, The Saturday Press, in print from 1858-1866. Here is where

and

published their earliest works, and was the main publication of the Pfaffian Circle. In 1860 Winter married Scottish poet and novelist Elizabeth Campbell, raising their five children in Staten Island, New York. Winter went on to a stellar writing and editorial career at some of New York City's most influential papers, working as a dramatic and literary critic for the Albion and Harper's Weekly, as well as Horace Greeley's Tribune for more than 40 years. His piercing wit and brilliant writing made him the leading stage historian and theater critic of the 19th century (W. Eaton, "William Winter"). In the 1880s he began publishing biographies of thespians like the Jefferson family and Edwin Booth. Winter opposed the modernist theater of playwrights like Ibsen, and maintained that drama should be a moral force. His 1912 The Wallet of Time offers a fascinating retrospective look at the development of nineteenth-century theater; in the preface, he states that " ruling purpose of my criticism has been... to oppose, denounce, and endeavor to defeat the policy which, in unscrupulous greed of gain, allows the Theatre to become an instrument to vitiate public taste and corrupt public morals" (xxiv). Winter's work on New York's theatrical scene details the careers, pursuits, and tastes of the major players and plays. He encouraged actors and writers to acknowledge the "use of a power manifestly greater in modern society than it ever was before in the history of civilization... and, if possible, to exert a beneficial influence on the mind of the rising generation, -- the generation that will support the Drama, determine its spirit, and shape its destiny" . He died in

New Brighton, Staten Island New Brighton is a neighborhood located on the North Shore, Staten Island, North Shore of Staten Island in New York City. The neighborhood comprises an older industrial and residential harbor front area along the Kill Van Kull west of St. George, ...

on June 30, 1917 after a bout of

angina pectoris Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is typically the result of obstru ...

. He was buried at Silver Mount Cemetery.

Works

His writings include: * ''The Convent, and other Poems'' (Boston, 1854) * ''The Queen's Domain, and other Poems'' (1858) * ''My Witness: a Book of Verse'' (1871) * ''Sketch of the Life of Edwin Booth'' (1871) * ''Thistledown: a Book of Lyrics'' (1878) * ''The Trip to England'' (1879) * ''Poems: Complete Edition'' (1881) * ''The Jeffersons'' (1881) * ''English Rambles and other Fugitive Pieces'' (Boston, 1884) * ''

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

'' (1885) * ''The Stage Life of Mary Anderson'' (1886) * ''Shakespeare's England'' (1888) * ''Brief Chronicles'' (1889) * ''Gray Days and Gold'' (1889) * ''Old Shrines and Ivy'' (1892) * ''Wanders, the Poems of William Winters'' (1892) * ''Shadows of the Stage'' (1892, 1893, and 1894) * ''The Life and art of

'' (1893) * ''The Life and Art of

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III, commonly known as Joe Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedia ...

'' (1894) * ''Brown Heath and Blue Bells'' (1896) * '' Ada Rehan'' (1898) * ''Other Days of the Stage (1908) * ''Old Friends'' (1909) * ''Poems'' (1909), definitive author's edition * ''Life and Art of

Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. Life and career Mansfield was born ...

'' (1910) * ''

The Wallet of Time ''The Wallet of Time'' is a publication by William Winter, published in two volumes in 1913. Overview The book focuses on American stage actors and actresses, most of whom had been born in Europe, of the nineteenth century and the first decade of ...

'' (1913) * a ''Life'' of

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include '' Jesse James'', ...

(1913) * ''

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 nation ...

on the Stage'' (two series, 1911–15) * ''Vagrant Memories'' (1915) He has edited, with memoirs and notes: * ''The Poems of George Arnold'' (Boston, 1866) * ''Life, Stories, and Poems of John Brougham'' (1881) * ''The Poems and Stories of Fitz-James O'Brien'' (1881)

References

External links

William Winter Papers
at the

William Winter Libra

Biography

Archives

Works

References

External links