Rolfe Humphries (AC 1915) Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection consists chiefly of incoming and outgoing correspondence, manuscript drafts, typescripts and galley proofs documenting the career of Rolfe Humphries as a poet, translator, teacher, editor, and reviewer. Correspondents include Louise Bogan, David Ferry, Richard Gillman, Donald Hall, Ezra Pound, Theodore Roethke, and E. Merrill Root. Poetry manuscripts include material that was unpublished or appeared later in substantially different form. Also included are reviews of Humphries' work and general articles about him as well as a small amount of family papers, including an autobiography of his mother, Florence Yost Humphries.
Dates
- Creation: 1896-1992
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1915 - 1969
Creator
- Humphries, George Rolfe (AC 1915) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There is no restriction on access to the papers for research use. Photocopied materials in the collection may not be photocopied without permission from the owner of the originals.
Conditions Governing Use
Requests for permission to publish material from the papers should be directed to Archives and Special Collections.
Biographical / Historical
George Rolfe Humphries, noted poet, translator, teacher, critic and editor, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1894. He attended Towanda High School and entered Amherst College in 1911. He taught Latin in secondary schools in San Francisco, New York City and Long Island through 1957. In 1925 he married Helen Ward Spencer. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in creative writing, 1938-1939. In 1957 Humphries joined the faculty of Amherst College as a Lecturer in the English Department. He retired in 1965.
Humphries' lasting achievement was as a poet and translator. His works of original verse include Europa and Other Poems and Sonnets, 1929; Out of the Jewel, 1942; The Summer Landscape, 1945; Forbid Thy Ravens, 1947; The Wind of Time, 1949; Poems Collected and New, 1954; His translations include The Poet in New York, a translation of Garcia Lorca, 1940; Virgil's Aeneid, 1951; Ovid's Metamorphoses: Art of Love, 1953, 1955; Juvenal's Satires, 1959; Selected Epigrams of Martial, ca. 1963. W.H. Auden called Humphries' translation of Virgil's Aeneid "a service for which no public reward could be too great."
Humphries is also notable as a mentor to many young poets, including Theodore Roethke. Among his literary friendships were those with Louise Bogan, Edmund Wilson, and Roethke. He taught at many poetry and creative writing workshops, including the University of New Hampshire Writers' Conference and the Writers' Conference in the Rocky Mountains at the University of Colorado.
Rolfe Humphries died on April 22, 1969 in Redwood City, California.
Extent
9.5 Linear feet (19 archives boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection consists chiefly of incoming and outgoing correspondence, manuscript drafts, typescripts and galley proofs documenting the career of Rolfe Humphries as a poet, translator, teacher, editor, and reviewer. Correspondents include Louise Bogan, David Ferry, Richard Gillman, Donald Hall, Ezra Pound, Theodore Roethke, and E. Merrill Root. Poetry manuscripts include material that was unpublished or appeared later in substantially different form. Also included are reviews of Humphries' work and general articles about him as well as a small amount of family papers, including an autobiography of his mother, Florence Yost Humphries.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into ten series:
- Series 1: Correspondence, 1915-1969
- Series 2: General Poetry, 1910-1969
- Series 3: General Prose, circa 1938-1967
- Series 4: Original Titles Wholly by Humphries, 1929-1974
- Series 5: Translations by Humphries, 1940-1969
- Series 6: Titles Edited by Humphries, circa 1937-1968
- Series 7: Reviews by Humphries, circa 1924-1967
- Series 8: Reviews of Works by Humphries, circa 1940-1969
- Series 9: Biographical Material and Miscellaneous, circa 1905-1969
- Series 10: Periodicals, 1896-1992
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Unless otherwise indicated, the Papers are a gift of Helen Spencer Humphries.
Subject
- Root, Edward Merrill, 1895-1973 (AC 1917) (Person)
- Bogan, Louise, 1897-1970 (Person)
- Ferry, David, 1924- (AC 1946) (Person)
- Gillman, Richard (Person)
- Hall, Donald, 1928-2018 (Person)
- Humphries, George Rolfe (AC 1915) (Person)
- Humphries, Florence Yost (Person)
- Humphries, George Rolfe (AC 1915) (Person)
- Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972 (Person)
- Roethke, Theodore, 1908-1963 (Person)
- Status
- Completed
- Date
- 2002
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Repository Details
Part of the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Repository
Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
61 Quadrangle Drive
Amherst MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2299
archives@amherst.edu