- Richard B. Sewall
Richard B. Sewall (
1908 -16 April 2003 ) was a professor of English atYale University , and author of the influential works "The Life of Emily Dickinson " and "The Vision of Tragedy".He was born in
Albany, New York to a family with a long Congregational tradition: his father, Reverend Charles G. Sewall, was the thirteenth son in an unbroken chain of Congregational ministers. His mother, Kate Strong, was the daughter of ReverendAugustus Hopkins Strong , president of theRochester Theological Seminary . [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E6DB133AF932A15757C0A9659C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fD%2fDickinson%2c%20Emily New York Times obituary] , "The New York Times",21 April 2003 .]Sewall attended
Philips Exeter Academy , graduated fromWilliams College and received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1933. He taught initially atClark University , then at Yale for 42 years, from 1934 to 1976. For much of that period he taught "English 61", a course ontragedy that became so popular it was held in Yale's largest lecture hall. He also taught, from 1941, "Daily Themes", a writing class that was a training ground for many authors, includingWilliam F. Buckley ,Calvin Trillin , andBob Woodward . [ [http://www.yale.edu/opa/v31.n27/story17.html Yale Bulletin obituary] , Yale Bulletin & Calendar,25 April 2003 , Volume 31, Number 27] [He succeeded Professor William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps as teacher; during Phelps's tenure,Sinclair Lewis ,Stephen Vincent Benét ,Thornton Wilder ,Philip Barry , andWalter Millis had passed through the course.]He was popular with both the students he taught and those he dealt with in his various administrative roles, which included stints as a member of the Committee on Manners and Morals and as first master of
Ezra Stiles College . During theVietnam Era he supported the activities of peace activists on campus, makingWilliam Sloane Coffin andAllard Lowenstein fellows of Ezra Stiles College. He played a key role in preventing campus violence during theNew Haven Black Panther trials by persuading Yale PresidentKingman Brewster to take a conciliatory rahter than oppositional approach to campus demonstrations. One of Yale's awards named for him, the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize, is presented each year to the professor who "has given the most time, energy and effective effort” to educating undergraduates. [ [http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/05-05-22-01.all.html Yale Teaching Prizes] ]His book, "The Life of Emily Dickinson", published in 1974, won the
National Book Award , and dispelled many prevalent myths about the poet, and challenged the notion that she was the "Nun of Amherst", a neurotic lovelorn woman too fragile for the world who turned to poetry as solace for an unhappy life.References
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