author
Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
1847–1926
A Yale professor, critic, and literary historian, he spent decades explaining how English and American writing evolved. His books helped generations of readers approach literature as a living tradition rather than a list of names and dates.
10 Audiobooks
Brief History of English and American Literature
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
Four Americans: Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson, Whitman
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
Initial Studies in American Letters
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
From Chaucer to Tennyson With Twenty-Nine Portraits and Selections from Thirty Authors
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
Nathaniel Parker Willis
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
Milton's Tercentenary An address delivered before the Modern Language Club of Yale University on Milton's Three Hundredth Birthday.
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
The Connecticut Wits, and Other Essays
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
The Two Twilights
by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
About the author
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1847, Henry Augustin Beers studied at Yale, earned his B.A. in 1869, and was admitted to the New York bar soon after. He turned from law to academic life, however, and built a long career at Yale, where he became a professor of English and remained an important presence in literary study.
Beers is best remembered as a literary historian and critic. He wrote clear, wide-ranging surveys such as A Brief History of English and American Literature and studies of Romanticism, American letters, and the poetry of New England. His work was aimed at helping readers see connections across periods, movements, and national traditions.
Alongside his scholarship, he also wrote poetry and essays. Today, his books offer a window into how literature was taught and understood in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially in American universities.