William Alfred (August 16, 1922 – May 20, 1999) was an American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

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 ...

Biography

Alfred was born into an Irish family in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a telephone operator. He graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School in 1940. Alfred was drafted in 1943, two years into his undergraduate studies at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

. He served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

tank corps and quartermaster's corps in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for four years. While in the army, he was taught Bulgarian at a language school and then stationed in the South Pacific, where he wrote poems for ''American Poet''. Alfred completed his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1948 with the help of the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. Alfred is a double graduate of Harvard University, where he specialized in the literature of Medieval England, receiving his A.M. and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in English in 1949 and 1954 respectively.“Past Recipients of the Harvard Medal” ''Harvard Alumni Association,'' 2019. Retrieved from https://alumni.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/page/files/Harvard%20Medal_Past%20Recipient%20List.pdf While at Harvard, Alfred took a creative writing course under Archibald MacLeish, where he wrote his play, ''Agamemnon''. He began teaching at Harvard the same year he received his doctorate and was appointed full professor in 1963. In 1980, he was named Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of the Humanities. He retired in 1991.

Personal life

Alfred was a lifelong Catholic and attended mass at nearby Saint Paul's Church. His great grandmother, Anna Maria Egan, immigrated to the United States. Alfred's play '' Hogan's Goat'' helped launch

Faye Dunaway Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Faye Dunaway, many accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden ...

's career in the 60's. They maintained a close relationship and remained lifelong friends. Alfred was close friends with fellow poets

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...

and

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

Plays

*''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husb ...

'' (published 1954) * '' Hogan's Goat'' (published 1966) * '' Cry for Us All'' (musical adaptation of ''Hogan's Goat'') *'' The Curse of an Aching Heart''

Other works

*''The Annunciation Rosary'' (poetry) *Author of a translation of ''

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 ...

Awards and recognition

* 1993 Harvard Medal * 1988 Signet Society Medal for Lifetime Achievement * 1957 Phi Beta Kappa Poet of Harvard University * 1954

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...

Traveling Poetry Scholar

References

External links

The William Alfred Collection at Brooklyn College Special CollectionsGuide to William Alfred papers concerning adaptations of Agamemnon and The Scarlet Letter
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University *{https://sites.google.com/view/the-friends-of-william-alfred/home The New Friends of William Alfred, A collection of photos, videos, memoirs, and external links devoted to the life and works of William Alfred. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alfred, William 1922 births American academics of English literature Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard University faculty 1999 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers Brooklyn College alumni United States Army personnel of World War II American Roman Catholics