Albert Stanburrough Cook | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1853-03-06)March 6, 1853 Montville, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | September 1, 1927(1927-09-01) (aged 74) |
| Education | Rutgers College (BA,MS) University of Göttingen University of Leipzig University of Jena (PhD) |
| Occupation | Professor atYale University |
| Known for | Translation and criticism ofOld English works |
| Notable work | The Christ of Cynewulf Judith, an Old English Epic Fragment (crit. ed.) |
Albert Stanburrough Cook (March 6, 1853 – September 1, 1927) was an Americanphilologist, literary critic, and scholar of Old English. He has been called "the single most powerful American Anglo-Saxonist of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."[1][2]
Cook was born inMontville, New Jersey.[3] He began working as a mathematics tutor at sixteen and was offered chemistry professorship inFukui, Japan before entering college, which he declined.[4] He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree fromRutgers College in 1872, writing a thesis on "The Inclined Planes of the Morris Canal," and taught there and atFreehold Academy while completing a Master of Science degree.[4][5]
Having already learned German, he went on to study inGöttingen andLeipzig from 1877 to 1878, where he began learning languages including Latin, Greek, Italian, and Old English.[4] He returned to the United States for two years as an associate in English atJohns Hopkins University,[6] then in 1881 he spent time inLondon with phoneticistHenry Sweet studying manuscripts ofCynewulf and theOld Northumbrian Gospels at theBritish Museum.[4] This work allowed him to complete a PhD in 1882 at theUniversity of Jena, where he studied underEduard Sievers.[1] Cook became a professor of English in theUniversity of California in 1882, where he re-organized the teaching of English in the state of California, introduced English requirements for university admission, and edited many texts for reading in secondary schools.[4][6] He became chair of English language and literature atYale University in 1889, where he remained for thirty-two years until his death and became a prolific editor of major English works and literary criticism. In contrast to the prejudices of many of his peers, a number of female PhD students - includingElizabeth Deering Hanscom,Martha Anstice Harris,Laura Lockwood,Mary Augusta Scott, andCaroline Louisa White - studied under Cook at a time when such students were rare.[7]
Cook's best-known scholarly work is inOld English and in poetics, fields in which he produced over three hundred publications.[6] He translated, edited, and revised Sievers'Old English Grammar (1885), editedJudith (1888),The Christ of Cynewulf (1900),Asser'sLife of King Alfred (1905), andThe Dream of the Rood (1905), and preparedA First Book in Old English Grammar (1894). He also edited, with annotations,Sidney'sDefense of Poesie (1890);Shelley'sDefense of Poetry (1891);Newman'sPoetry (1891);Addison'sCriticisms on Paradise Lost (1892);The Art of Poetry (1892), being the essays ofHorace,Vida andBoileau; and Leigh Hunt'sWhat is Poetry (1893); and publishedHigher Study of English (1906).[1]
Cook married twice: first to Emily Chamberlain (1886), then to Elizabeth Merrill (1911).[4] He died on September 1, 1927, inNew Haven, Connecticut.[8]
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