George Richard Wilson Knight (1897–1985) was an English literary critic and academic, known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature, and ''The Wheel of Fire'', a collection of essays 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 ...

's plays. He was also an actor and theatrical director, and considered an outstanding lecturer.

Early life and education

Knight was educated at Dean Close School,

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

and, after serving as a dispatch rider in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

,G. Wilson Knight, ''Principles of Shakespearian Production'',

Pelican Books Pelican Books is a non-fiction imprint of Penguin Books"About Penguin - Compa ...

, 1949, back cover text he went up to

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...

, where he read English. He graduated with second-class honours. After Oxford, he went into teaching. From 1923 to 1931 he taught at Hawtreys, Westgate-on-Sea and at Dean Close School, Cheltenham. The classical scholar William Francis Jackson Knight (1895–1964), of whom he wrote a biography, was his brother.

Academic career

Knight's first academic post was at Trinity College, Toronto in 1931. He taught at Stowe School from 1941 to 1946. In 1946 he became a

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in English Literature at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. He remained at Leeds as a

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

of English Literature from 1956 until his retirement in 1962. At

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, he produced and acted in the main Shakespearian tragedies at Hart House Theatre. Among his other productions are ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' at the Rudolf Steiner Theatre, London in 1935; ''This Sceptred Isle'' at the Westminster Theatre London in 1941; and at Leeds the ''

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 ...

'' of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

in 1946; Racine's '' Athalie'' in 1947; and ''

Timon of Athens ''Timon of Athens'' (''The Life of Tymon of Athens'') is a play written by William Shakespeare and probably also Thomas Middleton in about 1606. It was published in the '' First Folio'' in 1623. Timon lavishes his wealth on parasitic companio ...

'' in 1948.

Spiritualism

Knight was a believer in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

and was a vice-president for the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain.Domelen, John E. Van. (1987). ''Tarzan of Athens: A Biographical Study of G. Wilson Knight''. Redcliffe. p. 149

Works

* ''Myth and Miracle: an Essay on the Mystic Symbolism of Shakespeare'' (1929)
''The Wheel of Fire, Interpretations of Shakespearian Tragedy''
(1930) * ''The Imperial Theme'' (1931)
''The Shakespearian Tempest''
(1932) * ''The Christian Renaissance, with interpretations of Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe, and a note on T. S. Eliot'' (1933) * ''Shakespeare and Tolstoy'' (1934) * ''Principles of Shakespeare's Production'' (1936) * ''Atlantic Crossing: an Autobiographical Design'' (1936) * ''The Burning Oracle, Studies in the Poetry of Action'' (1939) * ''The Sceptred Isle: Shakespeare's Message for England at War'' (1940) * ''The Starlit Dome: Studies in the Poetry of Vision'' (1941) * ''Chariot of Wrath: the Message of John Milton to Democracy at War'' (1942) * ''The Olive and the Sword: a Study of England's Shakespeare'' (1944) * ''The Dynasty of

Stowe Stowe may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village **Stowe House **Stowe School * Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish * Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire * Stowe, Linc ...

'' (1945) * ''Hiroshima, on Prophecy and the sun-bomb'' (1946)
''The Crown of Life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare's Final Plays''
(1947) * ''Christ and Nietzsche: an Essay in Poetic Wisdom'' (1948) * ''The Imperial Theme: Further Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tragedies, including the Roman Plays'' (1951) * ''Lord Byron: Christian Virtues'' (1952) * ''Byron's Dramatic Prose'' (1953) * ''The Last of the Incas, a Play on the Conquest of Peru'' (1954) * ''Laureate of Peace: on the Genius of Alexander Pope'' (1954) * ''The Mutual Flame: on Shakespeare's Sonnets and The Phoenix and the Turtle'' (1955) * ''Lord Byron's Marriage: The Evidence of Asterisks'' (1957) * ''The Sovereign Flower: on Shakespeare as the poet of Royalism'' (1958) * ''Ibsen'' (1962) * ''The Golden Labyrinth: a Study of British Drama'' (1962) * ''Byron and Hamlet'' (1962) * ''The Saturnian Quest: a Chart of the Prose Works of

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

'' (1964) * ''Byron and Shakespeare'' (1966) * ''Gold-Dust, with Other Poetry'' (1968) * ''Shakespeare and Religion: Essays of Forty Years'' * ''Neglected Powers: Essays on 19th and 20th Century Literature'' (1971) * ''Jackson Knight: a Biography'' (1975) * ''Virgil and Shakespeare'' (1977) * ''Shakespeare's Dramatic Challenge: on the Rise of Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes'' (1977) * ''Symbol of Man: on Body-soul for Stage and Studio'' (1979) * ''Shakespearian Dimensions'' (1984) * ''Visions and Vices: Essays on

'' (1989)

References

External links

Papers of George Wilson Knight: 'Road to Kasvin' typescript memoir

* Archival material at
G. Wilson Knight Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...