# William Alfred

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{{short description|American playwright, poet, and professor (1922–1999)}}
'''William Alfred''' (August 16, 1922 – May 20, 1999) was an American [playwright](/source/playwright), [poet](/source/poet), and [professor](/source/professor) of [English literature](/source/English_literature) at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).<ref name="academicworks.cuny.edu">{{Cite web|url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bc_arch_alfred/|title=William Alfred {{!}} Manuscript Collections {{!}} City University of New York (CUNY)|website=academicworks.cuny.edu|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Alfred was born into an Irish family in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), [New York](/source/New_York_(state)).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HkKsfnScXo0C&q=%22william+alfred%22+%22harvard%22&pg=PA130|title=Souvenirs of a Blown World: Sketches for the Sixties, Writings about America, 1966-1973|last=Mcdonald|first=Gregory|date=2011-01-04|publisher=Seven Stories Press|isbn=978-1-58322-993-4|language=en}}</ref> His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a telephone operator.<ref name="Harvard obit">{{cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.27/alfred.obit.html|title='The Professor' William Alfred Dies at Age 76|date=6 July 2008|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706160043/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.27/alfred.obit.html|archivedate=6 July 2008|accessdate=4 June 2018}}</ref> He graduated from [St. Francis Preparatory School](/source/St._Francis_Preparatory_School) in 1940.<ref name=":3" />

Alfred was drafted in 1943, two years into his undergraduate studies at [Brooklyn College](/source/Brooklyn_College).<ref name=":3" /> He served in the [Army](/source/U.S._Army) tank corps and quartermaster's corps<ref name="Harvard obit" /> in [World War II](/source/World_War_II) for four years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/04/william-alfred/|title=William Alfred|date=2003-04-03|website=Harvard Gazette|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref> While in the army, he was taught Bulgarian at a language school and then stationed in the South Pacific, where he wrote poems for ''American Poet''.<ref name=":3" /> Alfred completed his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1948 with the help of the [G.I. Bill](/source/G.I._Bill).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

He went on to [Harvard](/source/Harvard_University), where he studied the literature of Medieval England, receiving his [A.M.](/source/Artium_Magister) and [Ph.D.](/source/Ph.D.) in English in 1949 and 1954 respectively.<ref name=":1">“Past Recipients of the Harvard Medal” ''Harvard Alumni Association,'' 2019. Retrieved from https://alumni.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/page/files/Harvard%20Medal_Past%20Recipient%20List.pdf</ref><ref name=":0" /> While at Harvard, Alfred took a creative writing course under [Archibald MacLeish](/source/Archibald_MacLeish). There he wrote his play, ''Agamemnon''.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlYEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22william+alfred%22+%22harvard%22&pg=PA89|title=LIFE|date=1966-04-22|publisher=Time Inc|language=en}}</ref>

Alfred's plays were heavily inspired by his Irish American roots. The most influenced plays include ''Hogans Goat, Cry For Us All,'' and ''The Curse of an Aching Heart.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Alfred {{!}} Manuscript Collections {{!}} City University of New York (CUNY) |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bc_arch_alfred/index.6.html |access-date=2026-02-25 |website=academicworks.cuny.edu}}</ref>

He began teaching at Harvard the same year he received his doctorate and was appointed full professor in 1963.<ref name=":0" /> In 1980, he was named Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of the Humanities.<ref name=":0" />

He retired in 1991.<ref name="Harvard obit" />

== Personal life ==
Alfred was a lifelong Catholic and attended mass at [Saint Paul's Church](/source/St._Paul_Church_(Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts)) in Cambridge.<ref name=":0" />

His great-grandmother, Anna Maria Egan, immigrated to the United States.<ref name=":4" />

Alfred's play ''[Hogan's Goat](/source/Hogan's_Goat),'' a verse drama, helped launch [Faye Dunaway](/source/Faye_Dunaway)'s career in the 60's.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.samuelfrench.com/a/1051/william-alfred|title=William Alfred {{!}} Samuel French|website=www.samuelfrench.com|language=en|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref> They maintained a close relationship and remained lifelong friends.<ref name=":2" />

Alfred was close friends with fellow poets [Elizabeth Bishop](/source/Elizabeth_Bishop)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/elizabethbishop00bret|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/elizabethbishop00bret/page/432 432]|quote=william alfred harvard.|title=Elizabeth Bishop: Life and the Memory of It|last=Millier|first=Brett C.|date=1992-03-15|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-91719-4|language=en}}</ref> and [Robert Lowell](/source/Robert_Lowell).<ref name="academicworks.cuny.edu"/>

==Plays==
*''[Agamemnon](/source/Agamemnon_(Alfred_play))'' (New York, Knopf 1954)
* ''[Hogan's Goat, a Drama in Verse](/source/Hogan's_Goat)'' (New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1966)
* ''[Cry for Us All](/source/Cry_for_Us_All)''<ref name="Harvard obit"/> (musical adaptation of ''Hogan's Goat'')
*''[The Curse of an Aching Heart](/source/The_Curse_of_an_Aching_Heart)'' (New York, Samuel French, New York, 1983)

==Other works==
*''The Annunciation Rosary'' (poetry)
*Author of a translation of ''[Beowulf](/source/Beowulf)''<ref name="Harvard obit"/>

== Awards and recognition ==

* 1993 Harvard Medal<ref name=":1" />
* 1988 Signet Society Medal for Lifetime Achievement<ref name=":0" />
* 1957 Phi Beta Kappa Poet of Harvard University<ref name=":0" />
* 1954 [Amy Lowell](/source/Amy_Lowell) Traveling Poetry Scholar<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.amylowell.org/past_recipients.htm|title=Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship- List of Past Recipients|website=www.amylowell.org|access-date=2019-12-05}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130325224028/https://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pages/archives/alfred/ The William Alfred Collection at Brooklyn College Special Collections]
*[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou00859 Guide to William Alfred papers concerning adaptations of Agamemnon and The Scarlet Letter] at [http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/ Houghton Library], Harvard University
*{https://sites.google.com/view/the-friends-of-william-alfred/home  The New Friends of William Alfred, A collection of photos, videos, memoirs, and external links devoted to the life and works of William Alfred.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfred, William}}
Category:1922 births
Category:1999 deaths
Category:20th-century American male writers
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century Roman Catholics
Category:American academics of English literature
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:American Roman Catholic writers
Category:Brooklyn College alumni
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Harvard University faculty
Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [William Alfred](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alfred) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Alfred?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.