Elizabeth Marie Pope
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Elizabeth Marie Pope (1917–1992) was an American author and educator specializing in Elizabethan England and the works of
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
and
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ...
. She received the Newbery Honor.


Early life and education

Elizabeth Marie Pope was born on May 1, 1917 in Washington, D.C., to Christopher Herman Pope, a banker, and Florence Anna Thompson Pope. She had two younger siblings, Wilmot T. Pope and Mary Frances Pope. Elizabeth Pope received her B.A. from
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...
in 1940. She completed graduate studies at
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
, where in 1944 she was awarded a Ph.D.


Career

In the fall of 1944, she accepted a teaching position at
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...
in
Oakland, CA Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
. She served as
assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
until 1955, when she was promoted to
associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
. In 1962 she became
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of English and was soon Head of the Department of English. She taught English at Mills for thirty-eight years before retiring on June 30, 1982.


Classroom teaching

Elaine B. Johnson, in her book ''Contextual Teaching and Learning'', fondly describes her memories of studying Shakespeare and Milton with Dr. Pope (pages 50–51). Johnson recalls a teacher who was courteous, humorous, compassionate, lively, and excellent at drawing connections between her students' lives and the moral lessons of Shakespeare and Milton. Johnson also includes the comment that Dr. Pope was "weighed down by a heavy brace on one leg" and was white-haired, indicating that she took courses from Dr. Pope toward the end of her tenure as professor. For Johnson, Dr. Pope was not only an engaging lecturer, but facilitated class discussion with open-ended questions and interest in her students' comments.


Interest in mythology

For many years Elizabeth Pope taught a course on Basic Myths. In response to an invitation to speak at the annual Mills College Alumnae Association meeting in 1958, Elizabeth Pope elaborated the topic of "Mythology and the Modern Mind."
The fact is that on the mythological level modern man has actually achieved what he is only beginning to dream of on the political level – – a real coming together of races and nations. Perhaps we should not make too much of this phenomenon – – but there is no need to underestimate it either. In the past hundred years, the resources of our imaginative life have been enormously broadened, deepened, strengthened, and enriched; it is a great achievement, and one of which the modern mind may legitimately be proud.
Pope proceeded to discuss four distinct approaches to origins of mythology. The first is the "historical-archaeological" approach, that myth "is a distorted and fantastic version of something that actually happened." The second approach is "psychological", presenting "in symbolic form the unconscious desires and loathings which lie buried deepest in the most hidden recesses of the psyche." Third is the "anthropological theory," emphasizing "phases of the agricultural year and the important stages of human development (birth, coming-of-age, marriage, death) "marked by elaborate ceremonials and rites by means of which the whole community participates in the occasion," and where a ceremony may linger on "even when the participants no longer understand exactly what it means." Fourth is "analytic study", viewed as more scientific. These scholars "break the story down into its component parts and classify them according to type — or... 'motif.'" Pope concluded with a probing question: "we have always known that the modern mind is capable of scientific study: is it also capable of the sort of creative imagination that produced myths in the first place?"


Author

Her
Newbery Honor The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...
-winning novel for young adults, '' The Perilous Gard'', is an imaginative retelling of the ballad of
Tam Lin Tam Lin, also known as Tamas-Lin, Tamlane, Tamlene, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam-Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam-Lyn or Tam-Lane, is a character in the legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. History The story of Tam Lin revolves around ...
set in the latter days of
Queen Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...
and the early days of
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
, featuring a strong, independent, clever young heroine, Kate. It also sympathetically discusses remnants of ancient pagan Britain driven into hiding by the coming of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. Many of its themes will be familiar from the
Arthurian legends The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...
, which are referred to at the opening of the novel.


Affiliations

She held memberships in the
American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States that was founded in 1915 in New York City and is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C. AAUP membership inc ...
, the
Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...
, the Mediaeval Society of America, and the
Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...
.


Bibliography


Novels

* '' The Sherwood Ring'', 1958 * '' The Perilous Gard'', 1974


Non-fiction

* ''Paradise Regained: The Tradition and the Poem'', 1947


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Elizabeth 1917 births 1992 deaths American academics of English literature American children's writers Mills College faculty Newbery Honor winners 20th-century American non-fiction writers