author
Edwin Herbert Lewis
1866–1938
A scholar of language who also wrote novels and poetry, he spent much of his career helping shape the teaching of English at the University of Chicago. His life joined academic rigor with a clear love of literature, music, and style.
3 Audiobooks
White Lightning
by Edwin Herbert Lewis
A First Book in Writing English
by Edwin Herbert Lewis
Those about Trench
by Edwin Herbert Lewis
About the author
Born in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1866, Edwin Herbert Lewis became a teacher, poet, novelist, and rhetorician whose career was closely tied to the rise of English studies in American universities. He studied at Alfred University, earned a Ph.D. in Latin from Syracuse University in 1892, and then received the first Ph.D. in English awarded by the University of Chicago in 1894.
Lewis remained at the University of Chicago for many years, serving in roles that included Fellow in English, Assistant in Rhetoric, and later Professor of English. Archival records describe him not only as a scholar of writing and language but also as a literary figure with wide interests, including poetry, fiction, and even university songs and music.
That mix of precision and imagination helps explain the lasting appeal of his work. Whether writing about English usage or creating literature of his own, he seems to have brought the habits of a careful teacher together with the curiosity of a creative writer.