M. H. Abrams
M. H. Abrams was a prominent American literary scholar and critic, best known for his influential works on Romantic poetry and his role as a general editor of the *Norton Anthology of English Literature*. Born into a Jewish family in 1912, Abrams was the first in his family to attend college, earning a scholarship to Harvard University, where he graduated in 1934. His academic career flourished at Cornell University, where he became a respected professor and published significant works, including *The Mirror and the Lamp* (1953) and *Natural Supernaturalism* (1971), both of which redefined the understanding of Romantic literature.
Abrams’s scholarship focused on the transition in poetry from reflecting social realities to serving as a source of illumination, a theme that resonated deeply in literary circles. He was recognized for his breadth of knowledge and teaching prowess, influencing many notable students. Throughout his career, he received numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal in 2013, and continued to engage with contemporary literary criticism, even as he held traditional views on authorial intent and meaning. Abrams passed away in 2015 at the age of 102, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of literary studies.
M. H. Abrams
- Born: July 23, 1912
- Birthplace: Long Branch, New Jersey
- Died: April 21, 2015
Scholar and literary critic
Abrams was a leading scholar and theorist in English literature, noted for his work on the Romantic poets. As editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, he shaped the literary canon for generations of students.
Early Life
M. H. Abrams (AY-bruhmz) was born to Joseph and Sarah Abrams, a blue-collar Jewish couple. He was the first in his family to receive a college education. In fact, he won a scholarship to Harvard University, which was a turning point in his life. He graduated as an English major in 1934. His thesis, on the effects of opium on the works of four nineteenth-century poets, was published by Harvard as part of a series of outstanding undergraduate research papers.
Abrams won a fellowship that enabled him to spend a year at Cambridge University, under the tutorship of the leading British literary critic I. A. Richards. He met Ludwig Wittgenstein, the renowned linguistic philosopher, who deeply influenced Abrams’s work. Returning to the United States, Abrams earned his MA in 1937 and his PhD in 1940, both at Harvard. In 1937, he married Ruth Claire Gaynes, with whom he had two daughters. He was drafted for war service, which he fulfilled at Harvard in its Psycho-Acoustics Laboratory.
After demobilization in 1945, Abrams was appointed assistant professor at Cornell University, where he spent the rest of his academic life. He was promoted to associate professor in 1947 and to full professor in 1953, despite having published only two articles. However, he had received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation for 1946–47 and from the Ford Foundation for 1953; in 1954, he became a Fulbright scholar at the Royal University of Malta and went back to Cambridge University.
Life’s Work
Abrams’s first major academic work, which established his reputation as a first-rate scholar, was The Mirror and the Lamp: Theory and Critical Tradition, which was published in 1953 by the Oxford University Press. It was a reworking of his PhD thesis. At one level, it is a definitive reinterpretation of Romantic poetry, with a focus on the works of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and on predominant metaphors to be found in Romanticism. Its theme is that, through the eighteenth century, poetry, like a mirror, reflected social reality; from the Romantics onward, poetry became a source of illumination, like a lamp. At a second level, Abrams was exploring the history of ideas, as applied to literature. At a third level, he was establishing a new theoretical understanding of Romantic literature. The book made an immediate impact, winning the Christian Gauss Prize of 1954, and it became a standard reference for all Romantic scholars.
Abrams’s second great work on Romanticism did not appear until 1971. Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature was a major extension of The Mirror and the Lamp, including a study of German Romanticism and philosophy, though still emphasizing Wordsworth and Coleridge. Again, Abrams used a “history of metaphor” approach, concentrating on how the Romantics sought to take over traditional religious values and vocabulary in the secular setting of post-Enlightenment European thinking. A central comparison, for example, is between Wordsworth’s Prelude (1850) and St. Augustine’s Confessiones (397–401; Confessions, 1620). Again, the book was acclaimed, receiving the James Russell Lowell Prize of 1972.
In between the publication of these two books, Abrams received more fellowships and lectured at Indiana University and the University of Toronto. He also edited other important works, including an edition of Alexander Pope’s poetry, essays on English Romanticism, essays on Wordsworth, and a glossary of literary terms. Best known, however, was his general editorship of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, in its one- and two-volume editions. Conceived by Abrams, this anthology influenced generations of undergraduate students. The work reflects Abrams’s breadth of scholarship and his liberality of spirit. The first edition appeared in 1962, and subsequent revisions followed every few years, all led by Abrams.
His teaching ability was widely recognized. Harold Bloom and Thomas Pynchon are just two of many distinguished students Abrams taught. In April 1978, the Society for the Humanities honored Abrams with a two-day conference at Cornell University, and the papers were published in 1981. By this time, poststructuralism and deconstruction were at the height of literary fashion; Abrams interfaced with these postmodern schools of criticism, although he was opposed to them. He held firmly to the study of author, audience, and objective meaning, though allowing for many interpretations.
In 1960, he was made Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English Literature. In 1973, he became Class of 1916 Professor of English Literature until his retirement. He continued to give significant lecture tours. In 1984, he received the Award in Humanistic Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honor rarely bestowed. He also founded the A. D. White Center for the Humanities at Cornell.
By 2012, the Norton anthology was in its ninth edition and the company had also published a new collection of Abrams's essays, titled The Fourth Dimension of a Poem: And Other Essays. The following year, he received the prestigious National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. After a lengthy and renowned career, Abrams passed away on April 21, 2015, in Ithaca, New York, at the age of 102.
Significance
Abrams represented the best of traditional humanistic American scholars, who combine breadth of scholarship with teaching skills and who demonstrate an ability to engage with changing philosophical fashions. He was widely respected within his field, and his work as an editor deeply influenced undergraduates throughout the second part of the twentieth century. His understanding of Romanticism, though challenged, was the bedrock of later criticism and scholarship.
Bibliography
Grace-Cobas, Linda. “Honored Literary Scholar M. H. Abrams Continues His Labors (of Love).” Cornell Chronicle 10 June 1999. Print.
Grimes, William. "M. H. Abrams, 102, Dies; Shaped Romantic Criticism and Literary 'Bible.'" New York Times. New York Times, 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Dec. 2015.
Lipking, Lawrence, ed. High Romantic Argument: Essays for M. H. Abrams. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1981. Print.
Ulmer, William A. “M. H. Abrams.” In Modern American Critics Since 1955. Ed. Gregory S. Joy. Detroit: Clarke, 1988. Print.
Williams, Jeffrey J. “M. H. Abrams: A Life in Criticism.” Chronicle of Higher Education 18 Apr. 2008. Print.