Paul Elmer More (December 12, 1864 – March 9, 1937) was an American journalist, critic, essayist and Christian apologist.

Biography

Paul Elmer More, the son of Enoch Anson and Katherine Hay Elmer, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated at Washington University in St. Louis and

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 highe ...

.Domitrovic, Brian (2003).
"Paul Elmer More: America's Reactionary"
''

Modern Age The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is appli ...

'' 45, pp. 343-349. More taught

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

at Harvard (1894-1895) and Bryn Mawr (1895-1897). After his short career as an academic, he worked as a literary editor on ''The Independent'', the ''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established i ...

'' and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

''. He started on his ''Shelburne Essays'' in 1904; they were to run to 11 published volumes, drawing on his periodical writing, and were followed later by the ''New Shelburne Essays'', in three volumes from 1928. In his literary criticism, More generally upheld the classical English authors who display, as he put it, a "deep-rooted sense of moral responsibility"—

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 ...

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

Trollope The name Trollope is derived from the place-name Troughburn, in Northumberland, England, originally Trolhop, Norse for "troll valley". The earliest recorded use of the surname is John Andrew Trolope (1427–1461) who lived in Thornlaw, Co. Dur ...

Newman Newman is a surname of English origin and may refer to many people: The surname Newman is widespread in the core Anglosphere. A * Abram Newman (1736–1799), British grocer * Adrian Newman (disambiguation), multiple people *Al Newman (born 196 ...

—while also accepting those lusty writers of France and America who cannot help but be a little too honest. As Francis X. Duggan notes, "the immorality More most objects to, the most serious offence an artist can commit, is not the obvious one of obscenity or suggestiveness, but a falsification of human nature, the denial of moral responsibility". He wrote several books after his retirement from journalism, including ''Platonism'' (1917); ''The Religion of Plato'' (1921); ''Hellenistic Philosophies'' (1923); and his last published work, the autobiographical ''Pages from an Oxford Diary'' (1937). His ''Greek Tradition'', 5 vols. (1917–27), is generally thought to be his best work. During the last 15 years of his life, More wrote several books of Christian apologetics, including ''The Christ of the New Testament'' (1924), ''Christ the Word'' (1927), and ''The Catholic Faith'' (1931). As Byron C. Lambert notes, "More's final mission was profoundly religious and what he wanted to leave to the world".Lambert, Byron C. (1999)
"The Regrettable Silence of Paul Elmer More"
''Modern Age'' 41, pp. 47-54. Nevertheless, although Russell Kirk judged him "the twentieth century's greatest apologist", More is little read by Christians today. In Lambert's view, the reason is that More's "Christianity was altogether too idiosyncratic for most Christians". " o exotic to be intelligible and too conditional to be authoritative", he lacked the power of "unabashedly orthodox" writers like

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

or G. K. Chesterton "to bring Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and even fringe believers together in a way that is the surprise of divided Christendom". That said, the man of whom Russell Kirk wrote, "as a critic of ideas, perhaps there has not been his peer in England or America since

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

," has much to offer the discriminating Christian reader. Kirk cites, for instance, More's insight into the "enormous error" of secular humanists. When the religious impulse is replaced by "mere 'brotherhood of man,' fratricide is not far distant." More wrote that the one effective way of "bringing into play some measure of true justice as distinct from the ruthless law of competition...is through the restoration in the individual human soul of a sense of responsibility extending beyond the grave." The alternative is a society "surrendered to the theory of ceaseless flux, with no principle of judgement except the shifting pleasure of the individual." More saw the loss of Christian culture as entailing intellectual as well as moral collapse. He once remarked to Alfred Noyes that "the ability to think clearly and deeply has been vanishing from all sections of the modern world except those that have some grasp of the philosophy of religion, as it has been developed through two thousand years in the central tradition of Christendom". More collaborated with

Irving Babbitt Irving Babbitt (August 2, 1865 – July 15, 1933) was an American academic and literary critic, noted for his founding role in a movement that became known as the New Humanism, a significant influence on literary discussion and conservative thou ...

from before 1900 in the project later labelled New Humanism. More lived in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

. He died on March 9, 1937, at the age of 72."Paul Elmer More, 72, is Dead," ''The New York Times,'' March 10, 1937, p. 23.

Works

''Helena, and Occasional Poems''
(1890).
''The Great Refusal, Being Letters of a Dreamer in Gotham''
(1894).
''A Century of Indian Epigrams: Chiefly from the Sanskrit of Bhartrihari''
(1898).
''The Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus''
(1899).
''Benjamin Franklin''
(1900).
''The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance''
(1904).
''Shelburne Essays; First Series''
(1904).
''Shelburne Essays; Second Series''
(1906).
''Shelburne Essays; Third Series''
(1906).
''Shelburne Essays; Fourth Series''
(1906).
''Shelburne Essays; Fifth Series''
(1908).
''Studies of Religious Dualism: Shelburne Essays; Sixth Series''
(1909).
''Shelburne Essays; Seventh Series''
(1910).
''Nietzsche''
(1912).
''The Drift of Romanticism: Shelburne Essays; Eighth Series''
(1913).
''Aristocracy and Justice: Shelburne Essays; Ninth Series''
(1915). * ''The Greek Tradition from the Death of Socrates to the Council of Chalcedon, 399 B.C.-A.D. 451'', (Princeton: University Press, 1917–27, 5 vols.) *
''Platonism''
(1917). *
''The Religion of Plato''
(1921). *
''Hellenistic Philosophies''
(1923). ** ''The Christ of the New Testament'' (1924). ** ''Christ the Word'' (1927).
''With the Wits: Shelburne Essays; Tenth Series''
(1919).
''A New England Group and Others: Shelburne Essays; Eleventh Series''
(1921). * ''The Demon of the Absolute; New Shelburne Essays'' (1928). * ''The Catholic Faith'' (1931; rep. as ''Christian Mysticism: A Critique'', 1932). * ''The Skeptical Approach to Religion; New Shelburne Essays'' (1934). * ''Anglicanism'' (1935, with

Frank Leslie Cross Frank Leslie Cross (22 January 1900 – 30 December 1968) was an English patristics scholar and Anglican priest. He was the founder of the Oxford International Conference on Patristic Studies and editor (with Elizabeth Livingstone) of ''The Oxf ...

). * ''On Being Human; New Shelbourne Essays'' (1936). * ''Pages from an Oxford Diary'' (1937, memoir). Selected articles
"A New Translation of the Arthurian Epos,"
''The Atlantic Monthly'', Vol. LXXXI, No. 484, 1898.
"The Wholesome Revival of Byron,"
''The Atlantic Monthly'', Vol. LXXXI, No. 494, 1898.
"Santayana's 'Poetry and Religion',"
''The Harvard Graduates' Magazine'', Vol. IX, 1901.
"Literary American,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LIII, 1901.
"The Dicast,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LIII, 1901.
"Brother Jasper and Galileo,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LIII, 1901.
"The Miracle of the Stone and the Mountain,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LIII, 1901.
"Books and Nature,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIII, 1901.
"The Geology of the Soul,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIII, 1901.
"The Sign of the Club,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIII, 1901.
"Wealth and Culture,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIV, 1902.
"Our Benevolent Feudalism,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIV, 1902.
"Two Unpublished Stanzas of Goldsmith (?),"
''The Independent'', Vol. LIV, 1902. * "A New Intrusion of Pedantry," ''The Nation'', Vol. LXXVII, 1903.
"What Are Our Classical Men Doing?,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LV, 1903.
"Pedantry and Dilettantism in the Classics,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LV, 1903.
"A Romance Attributed to John Milton,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LV, 1903.
"Classical Teachers and the Public,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LV, 1903.
"Zola's Truth,"
''The Independent,'' Vol. LV, 1903.
"Translation,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LV, 1903.
"The Carlyles,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LV, 1903.
"English Literature,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LV, 1903.
"Hawthorne: Looking Before and After,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LVI, 1904.
"The Agamemnon at Harvard,"
''The Harvard Graduates' Magazine'', Vol. XV, 1906.
"The Value of Academic Degrees,"
''The Bookman,'' Vol. XXIII, 1906.
"The Teaching of the Classics,"
''The Independent'', Vol. LXV, 1908.
"Milton After Three Hundred Years,"
''The Nation'', Vol. LXXXVII, 1908.
"The Dualism of Saint Augustine,"
''The Hibbert Journal,'' Vol. VI, 1908.
"Thomas Traherne,"
''The Nation'', Vol. LXXXVIII, 1909.
"The New Stage of Pragmatism,"
''The Nation'', Vol. LXXXVIII, 1909.
"News for Bibliophiles,"
''The Nation'', Vol. XCV, 1912.
"Herrick,"
''The Nation'', Vol. XCV, 1912.
"Jane Austen,"
''The Nation'', Vol. XCVII, 1913.
"The Lust of Empire,"
''The Nation'', Vol. XCIX, 1914.
"The New Morality,"
''The Unpopular Review'', Vol. I, No. 1, 1914.
"Natural Aristocracy,"
''The Unpopular Review'', Vol. I, No. 2, 1914.
"Gentle Uses of a Dictionary,"
''The Nation'', Vol. C, 1915.
"Harper's Song in 'Wilhelm Meister',"
''The Nation'', Vol. C, 1915.
"Some Parallels in Henry Vaughan,"
''The Nation'', Vol. CI, 1915.
"Children's Books,"
''The Nation'', Vol. CI, 1915.
"The Parmenides of Plato,"
''The Philosophical Review,'' Vol. XXV, 1916.
"Henry Vaughan,"
''The Nation'', Vol. CII, 1916.
"The Old Education and the New,"
''The Nation'', Vol. CII, 1916.
"Rabindranath Tagore,"
''The Nation'', Vol. CIII, 1916.
"The Problem of Poverty,"
''The Unpopular Review,'' Vol. VI, No. 12, 1916.
"Taste and Tradition,"
''The Unpopular Review'', Vol. VIII, No. 15, 1917.
"Henry Adams,"
''The Unpopular Review'', Vol. X, No. 20, 1918.
"Theodore Dreiser, Philosopher,"
''The Weekly Review,'' Vol. II, 1920.
"A Tory Unabashed,"
''The Weekly Review,'' Vol. III, 1920.
"Dancing the Moral Tight-Rope,"
''The Weekly Review,'' Vol. III, 1920.
"A 19th Century Ishmaelite,"
''The Villager,'' Vol. IV, 1920.
"A Lover of Lords and Books,"
''The Villager,'' Vol. IV, 1920.
"Progress,"
''The Villager,'' Vol. IV, 1921.
"Dr. Freud Bowdlerized,"
''The Weekly Review,'' Vol. IV, 1921.
"The New Thought,"
''The Villager,'' Vol. V, 1922. Miscellany * Prefatory note t
''The Complete Poetical Works of Lord Byron''
(1905). * Introduction t
''The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft,''
by

George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include '' The Nether World'' (1889), ''New Gru ...

(1913).
''Commemorative Tribute to Henry Adams''
(1920).
"Religion and Social Discontent."
In: ''Christianity and Problems of Today'' (1922).

References

External links

* *
Works by Paul Elmer More
at Hathi Trust
Works by Paul Elmer More
at

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

The Writings of Paul Elmer More

More, Paul Elmer

More Redivivus
{{DEFAULTSORT:More, Paul Elmer 1864 births 1937 deaths American essayists American male journalists American literary critics American autobiographers American philosophers Christian apologists Harvard University alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni American male essayists Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Biography

See also

Works

References

Further reading

External links