Elder Olson
Elder James Olson was a prominent American literary figure, born on March 9, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. He pursued an academic path at the University of Chicago, where he attained his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. between 1934 and 1938. Olson began his teaching career in English at the Armour Institute of Technology and later became an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, eventually rising to the position of full professor. His literary career included two notable poetry collections, "Thing of Sorrow" and "The Cock of Heaven," and he gained recognition within the Chicago School of literary criticism, which emphasized a return to Aristotelian principles in literary analysis.
Olson's influential work, "The Poetry of Dylan Thomas," won the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Award and highlighted his critical philosophy. He continued to engage in scholarly work throughout the 1960s and 1970s, producing significant critiques and editing classic texts. Throughout his lifetime, he received numerous accolades for his contributions to poetry and criticism, including sixteen major awards. Elder Olson passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 25, 1992, leaving a lasting impact on literary criticism that resonates with contemporary scholars.
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Elder Olson
Poet
- Born: March 9, 1909
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Died: July 25, 1992
- Place of death: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Biography
Elder James Olson was born on March 9, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Schurz High School in Chicago in 1926 and then received his B.A. in 1934, his M.A. in 1935, and his Ph.D. in 1938 from the University of Chicago. He was appointed an instructor in English at the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1935. In 1937, Olson married Ann Elisabeth Jones, with whom he had two children, Ann and Elder, before they divorced in 1948. In that year, he married Geraldine Louis Hays, with whom he had two daughters, Olivia and Shelley.
In 1934, Olson published his first collection of poetry, Thing of Sorrow, which won the Friends of Literature Award in 1935. His second collection, The Cock of Heaven, was well received by the critics. In 1942, Olson became an assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago and was promoted to full professor in 1953.
During his years at the University of Chicago, Olson was a member of the Chicago School, a group of literary critics who played an influential role in the development of American literary criticism. The school’s philosophy often is described as neo-Aristotlean because its members advocated a return to the principles of literature set forth in Aristotle’s Poetics (after 335 b.c.e.). In 1952, Olson contributed to the seminal text of the neo-Aristotlean movement, Critics and Criticism, Ancient and Modern, edited by R S. Crane, another Chicago School member. Two years later, Olson published his best known work of literary criticism, The Poetry of Dylan Thomas, which won the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Award in 1955.
Olson spent the 1960’s and 1970’s lecturing at the University of Chicago and guest lecturing in several international cities. He remained an active scholar, writing additional works of literary criticism, including Tragedy and the Theory of Drama and The Theory of Comedy. He also edited Aristotle’s Poetics and English Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays. Olson retired from the university in 1977, and he died peacefully in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 25, 1992.
Olson’s literary achievements were prolific. Over the span of his career, he won sixteen major awards for his poetry and criticism, including the Eunice Tietjens Award for Poetry in 1953 and a joint award from the Academy of American Poets and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1957 for his verse radio play, The Carnival of Animals. His major literary achievement was his instrumental role in the Chicago School of literary criticism. Although Olson advocated the ancient principles of Aristotle in an era that was constantly advancing modernist thought, he laid an intellectual framework for literary criticism that continues to be developed by Wayne Booth, James Phelan, and other contemporary critics.