William Force Stead (29 August 1884 – 8 March 1967) was an American diplomat and poet. He became an Anglican clergyman, and chaplain of Worcester College, Oxford, from 1927 to 1930.[1] He is best known for his editorial work on Christopher Smart.
Biography
editStead was born in Washington, D.C. and educated at the University of Virginia. He left the U.S. consular service around 1917 and was a student at Queen's College, Oxford, publishing verses in Oxford poetry. He was ordained and spent time in Italy, before returning to Oxford and Worcester College as a Fellow.
Stead was a friend of T. S. Eliot, and close to him at the time of his 1927 religious conversion, baptising him in the Church of England.[1] He returned to an academic position in the US in 1939, and died in Baltimore.
Works
edit- Moonflowers (1909)
- Windflowers (1911)
- Holy Innocents (1917)
- Verd Antique (1920)
- The Sweet Miracle (1922)
- Wayfaring (1924)
- Uriel: A Hymn in Praise of Divine Immanence (1933)
- The Poetry of the Bible (1938) editor
- Rejoice in the Lamb: a song from Bedlam by Christopher Smart (1939) editor
See also
edit
Notes
edit- ^ a b Margaret Mills Harper; Warwick Gould (20 December 2013). Yeats's Mask: Yeats Annual No. 19. Open Book Publishers. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-78374-017-8.
External links
edit- William Force Stead Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
- Works by William Force Stead at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
