author
Oscar Kuhns
1856–1929
A professor of Romance languages who helped English-speaking readers discover Italian literature, he wrote widely on Dante, Saint Francis, and the literary traditions of Italy. He also turned his attention to Pennsylvania German history, showing the range of his interests as a scholar and writer.
1 Audiobook
Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part II. Italian
by Oscar Kuhns
About the author
Born in 1856, Oscar Kuhns was an American scholar, translator, and literary critic whose work moved between European literature and American cultural history. He taught Romance languages at Wesleyan University and became known for making major figures of Italian writing more approachable to readers in English.
His books include The Great Poets of Italy, Dante and the English Poets from Chaucer to Tennyson, and a study of Saint Francis of Assisi. He also wrote The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania and work on Pennsylvania German family names, showing a lasting interest in language, migration, and heritage as well as literature.
Kuhns died in 1929. Though not widely known today, his writing reflects the curiosity of a scholar who ranged comfortably across poetry, history, biography, and translation, always aiming to connect readers with older traditions and influential texts.