author
Robert Huntington Fletcher
1875–1919
A Dartmouth-educated scholar and Grinnell College professor, he wrote clear, student-friendly books that helped generations of readers approach English literature with confidence. He is best known for A History of English Literature and for his study of Arthurian tradition in medieval chronicles.
1 Audiobook
A History of English Literature
by Robert Huntington Fletcher
About the author
Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on February 18, 1875, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1896, later earned both an AM and a PhD from Harvard, and taught while pursuing those degrees. Dartmouth’s archival record also notes that he worked as a teacher and principal at Newport High School in New Hampshire before building his academic career.
He went on to become Professor of English Literature at Grinnell College in Iowa. His books include The Arthurian Material in the Chronicles, Especially Those of Great Britain and France, Tennyson and Browning, Principles of Composition and Rhetoric, and the widely circulated A History of English Literature, a compact survey written for students.
He died on June 26, 1919, at just 44 years old. Even so, his work remained useful long after his lifetime, especially for readers looking for a straightforward guide to the major writers and periods of English literature.