Elsie Elizabeth Duncan-Jones ( Phare; 2 July 1908 – 7 April 2003) was a British literary scholar, translator, and playwright, and authority on the poet

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

Early life and education

Elsie Elizabeth Phare was born in Chelston,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, in 1908, the daughter of Henry Phare and Hilda Annie Bull Phare. Her father was a stationer and radio engineer. She received a scholarship to attend

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, where she studied with literary scholar I.A. Richards, and was president of the college's undergraduate literary society. In 1929, she won the college's Chancellor's Medal for English verse.

Career

In 1931, Phare became assistant lecturer in English at the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

. While there, she wrote a play, ''Fidelia's Ghost'', and published her first book of literary criticism, on the poetry of

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His Prosody (linguistics), prosody – notably his concept of sprung ...

. She had to resign her post when she married a fellow faculty member in 1933. Duncan-Jones moved with her husband when he became a professor at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 1936. Despite nepotism rules, she was allowed a lectureship there during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1935 and 1938, she won the Seatonian Prize. She became known for her expertise on the poet Andrew Marvell. In 1975 she gave the annual Warton Lecture on English Poetry at the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

. She retired from teaching in 1976, and lived in Cambridge. In 1937 Duncan-Jones's "heroic and workmanlike" translation of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''

The Misanthrope ''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by ...

'' was produced in London, starring Lydia Lopokova and Francis James.

Personal life

Elsie Phare married the philosopher

Austin Duncan-Jones Austin Ernest Duncan-Jones (5 August 1908 – 2 April 1967) was a British philosopher, with a primary focus on meta-ethics. He was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham from 1951 until his death. He was president of the Aristote ...

in 1933. They had three children, including a son who died young; their other children were the historian of the ancient world

Richard Duncan-Jones Richard Phare Duncan-Jones, FBA, FSA (14 September 1937 – 15 May 2024) was a British historian of the ancient world who specialised in Roman economy and society. Early life and education Duncan-Jones was the son of philosopher Austin and pla ...

, and the Shakespeare scholar

Katherine Duncan-Jones Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones (13 May 1941 – 16 October 2022) was an English literature and Shakespeare scholar and was also a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge (1965–1966), and then Somerville College, Oxford (1966–2001). She was also Prof ...

. Elsie Duncan-Jones was widowed in 1967, and she died in Cambridge in 2003, aged 94 years. British food writer

Bee Wilson Beatrice Dorothy "Bee" Wilson is a British food writer and journalist. She writes the "Table Talk" column for ''The Wall Street Journal'', and is also a campaigner for food education through the charity TastEd. Early life and education Beatri ...

and classicist Emily Wilson are her granddaughters.

Selected works

* ''The poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins; a survey and commentary'' (1933) * 'Ash Wednesday', in Balachandra Rajan, ed., ''T.S. Eliot, a study of his writings by several hands'' (1947) *'Benlowes's Borrowings from George Herbert' ''The Review of English Studies'' (1955) *'Benlowes, Marvell, and the Divine Casimire: A Note' ''Huntington Review Quarterly'' (1957) * ''The poems and letters of Andrew Marvell'' (1971) * ''A great master of words : some aspects of Marvell's poems of praise and blame'' (1975), her Warton Lecture at the British Academy, published the following year in ''Proceedings of the British Academy''Duncan-Jones, Elsie (15 October 1975)
"Marvell: A Great Master of Words"
Warton Lecture on English Poetry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan-Jones, Elsie Elizabeth 1908 births 2003 deaths Academics of the University of Southampton British literary scholars English women writers Writers from Torquay Academics of the University of Birmingham