William Riley Parker


William Riley Parker was an American scholar noted for his works on John Milton.

Early life and academic career

He was born in Roanoke, Virginia to Dr Frank Parker and Bertha Ladow Parker. He was educated at Roanoke College and Princeton University, where he was awarded an MA. Parker was then appointed instructor in English at Northwestern University. He studied for his B.Litt. at Oxford University, where he analysed the influence of Greek tragedy on John Milton's Samson Agonistes.
Parker returned to the United States and worked for Ohio State University. In 1937 his B.Litt. thesis was published as Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes. In 1938 Clarendon Press commissioned Parker to write a biography of John Milton, which was published in two volumes in 1968.
In 1946 Parker became secretary of the Modern Language Association and for ten years he edited its journal. During this time he was also professor at New York University and in 1956 was appointed professor of English at . In 1958 he was promoted to distinguished service professor of English at Indiana and in 1966 he became chairman of the English department.

Personal life

In 1932 Parker married Mary Ann Blakesley and they had a son and a daughter.

Works

Books

  • Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes.
  • Milton's Contemporary Reputation.
  • Milton: A Biography, two volumes.

Articles

  • 'Milton's Last Sonnet', The Review of English Studies, Vol. 21, No. 83, pp. 235-238.
  • 'Milton's Last Sonnet Again', The Review of English Studies, Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 147-154.
  • 'Who Wouldn't Have Thought?', CEA Critic, Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 2.
  • 'What Next?', PMLA, Vol. 68, No. 1, pp. 43-48.
  • 'Milton and the News of Charles Diodati's Death', Modern Language Notes, Vol. 72, No. 7, pp. 486-488.
  • 'Afterthoughts on a Profession: Graduate Training in the Humanities Today', College English, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 191-199.
  • 'Wood's Life of Milton: Its Sources and Significance', The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 1-22.
  • 'The Profession and George', PMLA, Vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 1-7.
  • 'Notes on the Text of "Samson Agonistes"', The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 60, No. 4, Milton Studies in Honor of Harris Francis Fletcher, pp. 688-698.
  • 'Report of the Delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies', PMLA, Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 74-75.
  • 'Education: Milton's Ideas and Ours', College English, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 1-14.
  • 'The Case for Latin', PMLA, Vol. 79, No. 4, Part 2: Supplement, pp. 3-10.
  • 'The Case for Latin', The Classical Journal, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 1-10.
  • 'The Case for Latin', Hispania, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 774-781.
  • 'Where Do English Departments Come from?', College English, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 339-351.
  • 'Milton's Commonplace Book: An Index and Notes', co-authored with John T. Shawcross, Milton Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 41-54.
  • 'Problems in Milton Biography', Milton Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 66-71.