author
Irving Babbitt
1865–1933
A major voice in early 20th-century literary criticism, he helped shape the movement known as New Humanism and spent most of his career teaching at Harvard. His writing pushed back against romantic excess and argued for discipline, balance, and moral seriousness in culture.
1 Audiobook
Rousseau and Romanticism
by Irving Babbitt
About the author
Born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 2, 1865, Irving Babbitt became an American academic, literary critic, and teacher best known as a leading figure in New Humanism. He studied at Harvard and at the Sorbonne in Paris, then joined the Harvard faculty, where he taught French and comparative literature for decades.
Babbitt built his reputation through criticism that challenged romanticism and defended classical restraint, ethical self-control, and high standards in education and culture. He was especially associated with books such as Literature and the American College, Rousseau and Romanticism, and Democracy and Leadership, which made him an influential presence in literary and intellectual debate during the early 1900s.
He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1933. Though his ideas have long been debated, he remains an important figure for readers interested in the history of criticism, higher education, and American intellectual life.