Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury (January 1, 1838 – April 9, 1915) was an American literary historian and critic, born in

Ovid, New York Ovid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Seneca County, New York, Seneca County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 2,919 at the 2020 census. The town is named after the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovi ...

, January 1, 1838. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1859 and subsequently received honorary degrees from Yale, Harvard,

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, and

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. He enlisted in the 126th New York Volunteers in 1862 and served in the

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as a first lieutenant. From 1871 until his retirement in 1906 he was professor of English language and literature in Yale. For 33 years he was also librarian at

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffiel ...

, Yale. He was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

(1898) and the

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(1896). His work is marked by sound scholarship and literary acumen. It is as a student of Chaucer, of Shakespeare, and of the English language from the point of view of its development that he especially distinguished himself. His editorial work includes: ''Chaucer's Parliament of Foules'' (1877); the ''Complete Works of

Charles Dudley Warner Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

'' (1904); and the ''Yale Book of American Verse'' (1912). Professor Lounsbury wrote other important publications which include: * ''A History of the English Language'' (1879, 1894) * ''Life of James Fenimore Cooper'' (1882) * ''Studies in Chaucer'' (three volumes, 1891) * ''Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist'' (1901) * ''Shakespeare and Voltaire'' (1902) * ''The Standard of Pronunciation in English'' (1904) * ''The Text of Shakespeare'' (1906) * ''The Standard of Usage in English'' (1908) * ''English Spelling and Spelling Reform'' (1909) * ''Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist'' (1912) Lounsbury was also the subject of some needling by Mark Twain, in his famous critique of James Fenimore Cooper ("

Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" is an 1895 essay by Mark Twain, written as a satire and criticism of the writings of James Fenimore Cooper. It draws on examples from '' The Deerslayer'' and '' The Pathfinder'' from Cooper's Leatherstocking ...

", written 1895). Lounsbury had written favorably of Cooper, which Twain took to mean that Lounsbury simply hadn't actually read Cooper.

References

External links

* * * * Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury Papers (MS 1231). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. 1838 births 1915 deaths Yale University faculty American bibliographers Chaucer scholars Shakespearean scholars Yale College alumni 19th-century American historians 19th-century American male writers People from Ovid, New York Union Army officers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters American male non-fiction writers Historians from New York (state) {{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub