William Alfred
American playwright From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Alfred (August 16, 1922 – May 20, 1999) was an American playwright, poet, and professor of English literature at Harvard University.[1]
Biography
Alfred was born into an Irish family in Brooklyn, New York.[2] His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a telephone operator.[3] He graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School in 1940.[2]
Alfred was drafted in 1943, two years into his undergraduate studies at Brooklyn College.[2] He served in the Army tank corps and quartermaster's corps[3] in World War II for four years.[4] While in the army, he was taught Bulgarian at a language school and then stationed in the South Pacific, where he wrote poems for American Poet.[2] Alfred completed his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1948 with the help of the G.I. Bill.[4][2]
He went on to Harvard, where he studied the literature of Medieval England, receiving his A.M. and Ph.D. in English in 1949 and 1954 respectively.[5][4] While at Harvard, Alfred took a creative writing course under Archibald MacLeish. There he wrote his play, Agamemnon.[6]
He began teaching at Harvard the same year he received his doctorate and was appointed full professor in 1963.[4] In 1980, he was named Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of the Humanities.[4]
He retired in 1991.[3]
Personal life
Alfred was a lifelong Catholic and attended mass at Saint Paul's Church in Cambridge.[4]
His great-grandmother, Anna Maria Egan, immigrated to the United States.[6]
Alfred's play Hogan's Goat, a verse drama, helped launch Faye Dunaway's career in the 60's.[7] They maintained a close relationship and remained lifelong friends.[7]
Alfred was close friends with fellow poets Elizabeth Bishop[8] and Robert Lowell.[1]
Plays
- Agamemnon (New York, Knopf 1954)
- Hogan's Goat, a Drama in Verse (New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1966)
- Cry for Us All[3] (musical adaptation of Hogan's Goat)
- The Curse of an Aching Heart (New York, Samuel French, New York, 1983)
Other works
Awards and recognition
- 1993 Harvard Medal[5]
- 1988 Signet Society Medal for Lifetime Achievement[4]
- 1957 Phi Beta Kappa Poet of Harvard University[4]
- 1954 Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholar[9]
References
External links
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