Larry Dean Benson (1929–2015) was a

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

veteran and professor of medieval literature at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Serving twice as the dean of Harvard's Department of English, Benson was one of the most accomplished American medievalists of the twentieth century. Brown, Jacqueline, Nicholas Watson, and Daniel Donoghue. "Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America." Speculum, Vol. 91, No. 3 (July 2016). Medieval Academy of America. https://doi.org/10.1086/687028

Early life and education

Born in 1929, Benson enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

before completing high school, serving a five-year tour that included action in Korea during the invasion of 1950.Donoghue, Daniel. "Larry Dean Benson: A Tribute." The Chaucer Review, Vol. 50, No. 3-4 (2015), pp. 220-223. Penn State University Press. https://doi.org/10.5325/chaucerrev.50.3-4.0220 After his service, he pursued an undergraduate degree at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

and earned his Ph.D. at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1959.

Academic career

Benson joined Harvard University in 1959, beginning a 45-year tenure that included two terms as chair of the Department of English and Senior Tutor of Quincy House (Harvard College). He retired in 1999 as the Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English, Emeritus. Benson's scholarship focused on Old and Middle English literature. He wrote and edited numerous books, including ''Art and Tradition in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' '' (1965), ''King Arthur's Death: The Middle English 'Stanzaic Morte Arthur' and 'Alliterative Morte Arthure' '' (1974), and ''Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur'' (1976). His most famous work, ''The Riverside Chaucer'' (1987), is the authoritative modern edition of the complete works of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

. Benson served as the general editor, coordinating contributions from a network of scholars.

Contributions to digital humanities

A pioneer in digital humanities, Benson recognized the potential of machine-readable texts before even the advent of the term itself. At a time when email was still a novelty, Benson taught himself to code Unix. After completing ''The Riverside Chaucer'', Benson adapted the computer tapes into tools for teaching and research. This effort led to ''A Glossarial Concordance to 'The Riverside Chaucer' '' (1993) and the creation of ''The Geoffrey Chaucer Website.'' His Chaucer website, which went up in the 1990s, has accumulated over 83 million visits from students across the world since its launch in 2004.

Teaching and mentorship

Benson was a dynamic lecturer whose Core course on ''The Canterbury Tales'' regularly drew hundreds of students. Teaching at Harvard from 1960 to his retirement in 1999, Benson taught everything from surveys to specialized seminars, even extending his tenure to teach at Harvard's Extension School until 2009. According to former students, Benson's teaching style was characterized by nervous energy, pacing, jingling coins in his pockets; through his own penetrating intelligence he was able to convey the brilliance, humor, and humanity of Chaucer. He founded the Medieval Doctoral Conference in the late 1970s to foster a scholarly community among graduate students and faculty. These weekly gatherings combined lunch discussions and academic presentations, creating a supportive and collaborative environment that continues to this day.

Legacy and honors

Benson's many honors included election to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1982 and being named a fellow of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

in 1974. He served on the editorial boards of numerous academic journals and projects. Known for his self-deprecating manner, Benson's colleagues and students remembered him as a scholar of immense range and depth. His distinctive gifts included a capacious memory, meticulous judgment, and an ability to blend philological precision with literary insight.

Personal life

Benson was known for his love of sabbaticals, spent researching in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

. In his free time, he enjoyed cooking Mexican food, bird watching from his home in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...

, and watching the

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invariably loose. Furthermore, he was deeply devoted to his family. He was predeceased by his wife, Margaret, and his son, Gavin. He is survived by three children—Cassandra, Amanda, and Geoffrey—ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Bibliography

1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: a close verse translation Benson, Larry Dean ubl. - Morgantown (2012) 2. King Arthur's death: the Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure Benson, Larry Dean ubl. - Exeter (1995) 3. Contradictions: From Beowulf to Chaucer. Selected Studies Benson, Larry Dean. Anderson, Theodore Murdock • Barney, Stephen A. ubl. - Aldershot (1995) 4. A Glossarial Concordance to the Riverside Chaucer (Vol. 1-2) Benson, Larry Dean. - New York, NY (1993) 5. The Riverside Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer. Benson, Larry Dean ubl. - Boston, Mass. (1987) 6. The Wisdom of Poetry: Essays in Early English Literature in Honor of Morton W. Bloomfield Benson, Larry Dean • Wenzel, Siegfried ubl. - Kalamazoo, Mich. (1982) 7. Chivalric literature: essays on relations between literature and life in the later middle ages Benson, Larry Dean • Leyerle, John ubl. - Kalamazoo, Mich. (1980) 8. Malory's "Morte Darthur" Benson, Larry Dean. - Cambridge, Mass. .a.(1976) 9. The Learned and the Lewed: Studies in Chaucer and Medieval Literature Benson, Larry Dean ubl. - Cambridge, Mass. (1974) 10. The Literary Context of Chaucer's Fabliaux: Text and Translation. The Library of Literature Benson, Larry Dean • Andersson, Theodore Murdock ubl. - Indianapolis, Ind. (1971) 11. Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Benson, Larry Dean. - New Brunswick (1965) 12. The "love-tydynges" in Chaucer's House of Fame Benson, Larry Dean. (1999) - In: Chaucer's Dream Visions and Shorter Poems p. 221-241 13. The Beginnings of Chaucer's English Style Benson, Larry Dean. (1996) - In: The Challenge of Periodization. Old Paradigms and New Perspectives p. 29-49 14. The 'Love-Tydynges' in Chaucer's House of Fame Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 198-216 15. The Order of The Canterbury Tales Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 100-140 16. The Pagan Coloring of Beowulf Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 15-31 17. Introduction Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. VIII-XVI 18. The Beginnings of Chaucer's English Style Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 243-265 19. Chaucer's Spelling Reconsidered Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 70-99 20. Courtly Love and Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 294-313 21. Bibliography of the Publications of Larry D. Benson Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. XX-XXIII 22. The Originality of Beowulf Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 32-69 23. The Authorship of St. Erkenwald Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 141-154 24. The Occasion of The Parliament of Fowls Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 175-197 25. The Date of the Alliterative Morte Arthure Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 155-174 26. The Tournament in the Romances of Chretien de Troyes and L'Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 266-293 27. The pagan coloring of "Beowulf" Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Beowulf. Basic readings p. 35-50 28. The Literary Character of Anglo-Saxon Formulaic Poetry Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 1-14 29. The 'Queynte' Punnings of Chaucer's Critics Benson, Larry Dean. (1995) - In: Benson, Contradictions p. 217-242 30. A Lemmatized Concordance of Chaucer Benson, Larry Dean. (1993) - In: Computer-Based Chaucer Studies p. 141-160 31. Chaucer's spelling reconsidered Benson, Larry Dean. (1992) - In: English manuscript studies 1100-1700 vol. 3 (1992) p. 1-28 32. The Literary Character of Anglo-Saxon Formulaic Poetry Benson, Larry Dean. (1990) - In: Oral-Formulaic Theory. A Folklore Casebook p. 227-242 33. Chaucer and courtly speech Benson, Larry Dean. (1988) - In: Genres, Themes and Images in English Literature from the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Century p. 11-30 34. The "love-tydynges" in Chaucer's House of Fame Benson, Larry Dean. (1986) - In: Chaucer in the Eighties p. 3-22 35. The "queynte" punnings of Chaucer's critics Benson, Larry Dean. (1984) - In: Studies in the age of Chaucer. Proceedings vol. 1 (1984) p. 23-50 36. Courtly love and chivalry in the later Middle Ages Benson, Larry Dean. (1984) - In: Fifteenth-Century Studies. Recent Essays p. 237-257 37. The occasion of The Parliament of Fowls. Benson, Larry Dean. (1982) - In: Essays Morton W. Bloomfield p. 123-144, 283-288 38. The order of "The Canterbury tales" Benson, Larry Dean. (1981) - In: Studies in the age of Chaucer vol. 3 (1981) p. 77-117 39. The tournament in the romances of Chrétien de Troyes and l'Histoire de Guillaume le maréchal Benson, Larry Dean. (1980) - In: Chivalric Literature p. 1-24, 147-152 40. The date of the Alliterative Morte Arthure Benson, Larry Dean. (1976) - In: Studies Lillian Herlands Hornstein p. 19-40 41. A reader's guide to writings on Chaucer Benson, Larry Dean. (1974) - In: Brewer, Geoffrey Chaucer p. 321-372 42. The Originality of "Beowulf" Benson, Larry Dean. (1970) - In: Harvard English studies vol. 1 (1970) p. 1-44 43. The style of Sir Gawain Benson, Larry Dean. (1968) - In: Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight p. 109-124 44. Le Morte Darthur Benson, Larry Dean. (1968) - In: Critical Approaches to Six Major English Works. Beowulf Through Paradise Lost p. 81-131 45. The meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Benson, Larry Dean. (1968) - In: Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight p. 295-306 46. The Pagan Coloring of Beowulf Benson, Larry Dean. (1967) - In: Old English Poetry. Fifteen Essays p. 193-213 47. The literary character of Anglo-Saxon formulaic poetry Benson, Larry Dean. (1966) - In: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America vol. 81 (1966) p. 334-341 48. The authorship of "St. Erkenwald" Benson, Larry Dean. (1965) - In: Journal of English and Germanic Philology vol. 64 (1965) p. 393-405 49. Chaucer's historical present, its meanings and uses Benson, Larry Dean. (1961) - In: English studies. A journal of English language and literature vol. 4 (1961) p. 65-77 50. The source of the beheading episode in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" Benson, Larry Dean. (1961 - 1962) - In: Modern philology vol. 59 (1961/62) p. 1-12 https://www.jstor.org/stable/434930 51. The "Rede Wynde" in "The Siege of Jerusalem" Benson, Larry Dean. (1960) - In: Notes and queries Ser. NS, vol. 7 (1960) p. 363-364 52. The use of a physical viewpoint in Berners' Froissart Benson, Larry Dean. (1959) - In: Modern language quarterly vol. 20 (1959) p. 333-338 For a full list of works by Larry Dean Benson, see: Regesta Imperii Author Index.

References

External links

The Geoffrey Chaucer Website
at Harvard, created by Larry Benson {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Larry 1929 births 2015 deaths Harvard University faculty Arizona State University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America United States Marines