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William Wallace Robson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Wallace Robson FRSE FRSA (20 June 1923 – 31 July 1993) was a British literary critic and scholar.

Life

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He was born in Plymouth on 20 June 1923 the son of Kathleen Ryan and her husband, William Robson, a barrister. He was educated at Leeds Modern School.

He studied literature at the University of Oxford, graduating with a BA. In 1946 he began lecturing in English literature, and in 1948 was elected a Fellow and gained an MA. In the early 1950s he founded the Oxford journal Essays in Criticism with F. W. Bateson.

Robson gave the 1957 Chatterton Lecture on Poetry.[1][2] In 1970 he received a chair in English at the University of Sussex, and in 1972 moved to a similar position at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1988 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Norman Jeffares, Donald Low, Archie Turnbull, and John McIntyre.[3]

He retired in 1990 and died in Edinburgh on 31 July 1993.[4]

Family

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In 1962 he married Anne-Varna Moses, and together they had two sons.

Publications

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  • Critical Essays (1966)
  • The Signs Among Us (1968) – poetry
  • Modern English Literature (1970)
  • The Definition of Literature (1982)
  • A Prologue to English Literature (1986)
  • Critical Enquiries (1993)
  • The Oxford History of English Literature 1890–1950 (1993)
  • The Oxford Book of Edwardian Verse (1993)

References

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  1. ^ "Chatterton Lectures on Poetry". British Academy.
  2. ^ Knight, G. Wilson (1959). "Review of Byron as Poet by W. W. Robson". Essays in Criticism. IX (1): 87–93. doi:10.1093/eic/IX.1.87. ISSN 0014-0856.
  3. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  4. ^ "William Robson" (PDF). mtcserver6.com.