| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Robert Herrick |
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| British History: Robert Herrick |
Herrick, Robert (1591-1674). Poet. Son of a Cheapside goldsmith, initially apprenticed to the trade but graduating at Cambridge (1617), Herrick was ordained in 1623. Returning to London and in contact with other writers (especially Ben Jonson), musicians, and court wits, he established himself as a poet, and was admitted to the living of Dean Prior (Devon). Here he spent most of the rest of his life. Herrick's poetry was widely appreciated, appeared in miscellanies, and was set to music.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Robert Herrick |
| Works: Works by Robert Herrick |
| 1901 | The Real World. After two realistic novels--The Gospel of Freedom (1898) and The Web of Life (1900)--Herrick, who was a professor of English at the University of Chicago from 1893 to 1923, produces the first of three "idealistic" works employing symbolism and allegorical plots to tell "the story of a mind's inner perception of living." It would be followed by similar novels, A Life for a Life (1910) and The Healer (1911). |
| 1904 | The Common Lot. Herrick's novel concerns a corrupt young architect whose greed leads him to design unsafe houses. |
| 1905 | The Memoirs of an American Citizen. One of Herrick's enduring works is a first-person narrative of an American success story, with an ambiguous depiction of the pursuit of wealth and power. |
| 1908 | Together. Here Herrick looks at a number of marriages to explore contemporary economic and political forces. Hailed as a masterpiece, the book solidifies his reputation as one of the era's leading serious novelists. He also publishes his most popular novel, The Master of the Inn, describing the search for the cure of modern ills. |
| 1910 | A Life for a Life. Herrick's novel, marking the beginning of his literary decline, carries the subtitle "An Allegory for Today" and concerns an individual beset by financial ambitions and sexual appetites. |
| 1913 | One Woman's Life. Herrick's novel is a character study of a female social climber. |
| 1914 | Clark's Field. Regarded as one of Herrick's finest novels, the story concerns a farmer's field that, due to urban sprawl, suddenly produces a fortune for the orphan Adelle Clark, who inherits it. After a hedonistic spree, she sees the emptiness of her life and resolves to find a better use for her property. |
| 1932 | The End of Desire. Herrick's novel concerns a middle-aged love affair that reverses expected sexual roles, with the woman casual in her sexual desires and the man longing for commitment. |
| Wikipedia: Robert Herrick (novelist) |
Robert Welch Herrick (1868 - 1938) was a novelist who was part of a new generation of American realists. His novels deal with the turbulence of industrialized society and the turmoil it can create in sensitive, isolated people. He was also briefly acting-Governor of the United States Virgin Islands in 1935.
Herrick was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts 21 April 1868, and attended Harvard University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1890. In 1894 he married Harriett Peabody Emery with whom he had a son Phillip Abbot Herrick and daughters Alice Freeman Palmer Herrick and Harriet Peabody Herrick. He later taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1905 to 1923, he was a professor of literature at the University of Chicago, during which time he wrote thirteen novels. Among those considered to be his finest was Web of Life (1900).
Herrick was praised by William James for his frank and clear-eyed views, and his work can be compared to that of England's George Gissing. Both writers developed themes of social discontent, the changing role of women, and the effects of social isolation. While seeing his world with a critical eye, Herrick escaped the shrill tone of muckraking writers like Upton Sinclair. His art was free of dogmatic isms and achieves its power from a melancholic fatalism. He dreaded the brutality and ignorance of the mob as much as he despised the avarice and ennui of the upper class. Herrick was suspicious of political doctrines and utopian legislation, feeling that true progress for human happiness must always lie in individuals making moral choices.
In January 1935, he was appointed as a Secretary to the United States Virgin Islands. During a political scandal involving then-Governor Paul Martin Pearson, both Pearson and his Lieutenant Governor, Lawrence William Cramer, were called away to testify before the Senate. Pearson was ultimately forced to resign and Cramer was appointed as his replacement, but he was forced to remain in Washington, D.C., until the conclusion of the hearings. During this period, Herrick was acting-Governor of the Islands, presiding over legislative sessions.
| Preceded by Paul Martin Pearson |
Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands 1935 (Acting Governor) |
Succeeded by Lawrence William Cramer |
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Works. The Chronology of American Literature, edited by Daniel S. Burt. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Robert Herrick (novelist)". Read more |
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