William Vaughn Moody

William Vaughn Moody (July 8, 1869 – October 17, 1910) was an American dramatist and poet. Moody was author of The Great Divide, first presented under the title of The Sabine Woman at the Garrick Theatre in Chicago on April 12, 1906. His poetic dramas included The Masque of Judgment (1900), The Fire Bringer (1904), and The Death of Eve (left undone at his death).

William Vaughn Moody
Portrait of William Vaughn Moody, by De W.C. Ward.
Born	(1869-07-08)July 8, 1869 Spencer, Indiana
Died	October 17, 1910(1910-10-17) (aged 41) Colorado Springs
Occupation	Dramatist, poet
Nationality	American
Signature

Biography

Born at Spencer, Indiana, his parents died while he was a boy, and he had to work to help support himself while he completed his education. After attending New Albany High School he went on to Harvard University, where he was awarded the George B. Sohier Prize for literature and earned an A.B. in 1893 and an A.M. in 1894.

He taught English at Harvard and Radcliffe until 1895, when he went to Chicago where he was an instructor at the University of Chicago, and from 1901 to 1907 assistant professor of English and rhetoric. He received the degree of Litt.D. from Yale in 1908, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Moody died from brain cancer at Colorado Springs at the age of 41.

Works

The Great Divide, 1970 revival, act II, directed by Keith Fowler, scene design by Sandro La Ferla, for the revival by the Virginia Museum Theater, Richmond, 1970. From left, Bill Camp, James Kirkland, Ken Letner, Gene Snow.)[1]

Tribute to W.V. Moody in The Harvard Monthly Vol 51 (1910)

• The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton (editor; 1899, Cambridge)
• The Masque of Judgment (1900)
• Poems (1901)
• The Fire-Bringer (1904, intended as the first member of a trilogy on the Promethean theme, of which The Masque of Judgment, already published, was the second member)
• The Great Divide (1907), prose drama, especially successful on the stage.
• The Faith Healer (1909), prose drama, very successful on the stage
• A First View of English and American Literature (compiler with Robert M. Lovett; 1902)
• The Poems of Trumbull Stickney (editor with George Cabot Lodge and John Ellerton Lodge; 1905)

His complete works, including The Death of Eve, a fragment of the third member of the proposed trilogy mentioned above, were edited with an introduction by John M. Manly (1912).[2]

See also

• The Harvard Monthly

Notes

1. "Polly Untermeyer, "'Great Divide' Gives Museum Drama Rotation," Petersburg Progress-Index, March 12, 1970
2. Boswell, Jeanetta (1987). Spokesman for the Minority: A Bibliography of Sidney Lanier, William Vaughn Moody, Henry Timrod, Frederick Goddard Tuckerman, and Jones Very, with Selective Annotations. Rowman & Littlefield.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. Missing or empty |title= (help)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Moody, William Vaughn" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York. This work in turn cites:
  • Daniel Gregory Mason, Some Letters of William Vaughn Moody (1913)

External links

• Biography at poemhunter.com
• TheatreHistory.com profile
• Works by William Vaughn Moody at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about William Vaughn Moody at Internet Archive
• Works by William Vaughn Moody at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by William Vaughn Moody, at Hathi Trust
• Works by William Vaughn Moody, at Unz.org
• Finding aid to Wallace Ludwig Anderson letters on William Vaughn Moody at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
• Guide to the William Vaughn Moody Papers 1892-1925 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center