Irving Babbitt

Born in 1865, Irving Babbitt became an American critic, scholar, and educator whose career was closely tied to Harvard University. He studied there and later taught French and comparative literature for many years, building a reputation as a formidable classroom presence and a major influence on generations of students.

Babbitt is best remembered as a central figure in New Humanism, a movement that stressed ethical self-control, classical standards, and skepticism toward extreme individualism and romantic excess. His best-known books include Literature and the American College, The New Laokoon, Rousseau and Romanticism, and Democracy and Leadership.

He died in 1933, but his ideas continued to matter well beyond his lifetime. Admirers saw him as a defender of humane learning and intellectual discipline, while critics debated his severity and cultural conservatism; either way, he remains an important figure in the history of American literary criticism.