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© 2002 Amherst College. All rights reserved.
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.
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 Poetry manuscripts include material that was unpublished or appeared later in substantially different form.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.
This collection is organized into ten series:
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.
Requests for permission to publish material from the papers should be directed to Archives and Special Collections.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Rolfe Humphries (AC 1915) Papers [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
Unless otherwise indicated, the Papers are a gift of Helen Spencer Humphries.
For additional information, including photographs as well as copies of letters of the Yost and Heydon families, see the Alumni biographical file of Rolfe Humphries, Class of 1915, in the College Archives.
Gillman, Richard, and Michael Paul Novak (eds.).
Series 1, Correspondence, 1915-1969, includes letters with intimates as well as isolated letters of a more formal nature, which could not be grouped into another section. Correspondence dealing directly with publications (i.e. from and to contributors, editors, publishers, proof-readers, etc.) is filed with the particular publication in question.
Series 2, General Poetry, 1910-1969, is arranged alphabetically by title and includes only those poems that were unfinished, unpublished, or published in magazines and/or anthologies, but not in a volume of poetry wholly by Humphries. (See Series 4 for poems published in Humphries' own books of poetry.) A poem that has a tentative title or no title is filed under the published title (in brackets).
Series 3, General Prose, ca. 1938-1967, is arranged alphabetically by title or, if no clear title exists, by the name of the subject or occasion.
Volumes are arranged chronologically; poems or each volume are in the order of the table of contents; if any poem appears in more than one volume, it will be filed with the volume of first appearance
Series 4, Original Titles Wholly by Humphries, 1929-1974, is further organized into individual volumes of poetry in the order in which they were published. The order in which the poems are listed is identical to each volume's table of contents. Any correspondence or reviews concerning a book of poetry by Humphries follows the poems. If a poem is a reprint, it is located in the volume of first appearance.
Series 5, Translations by Rolfe Humphries, 1940-1969, is further organized into the individual volumes of translations. One exception, however, is the F. Garcia Lorca material: since only a small number of the poems in this group are represented in either of Rolfe Humphries' translations of Lorca, the poems are listed alphabetically. Where Spanish original text exists, the Spanish title is listed and underscored; the poems published in The Poet of New York or Gypsy Ballads are marked with one or more asterisks. Correspondence between Humphries, Brickell and Norton, as well as correspondence related to Lorca in general, follow the listing of poems. Reviews follow correspondence. Other (unpublished?) translations have been placed at the end of this series.
Poems from both volumes and also poems not used in either volume are listed alphabetically. Where a Spanish original exists, the Spanish title is given and underscored. Poems appearing in THE POET IN NEW YORK, 1940 are marked with a single asterisk (*) in the description. Poems appearing in THE GYPSY BALLADS OF GARCIA LORCA, 1953 are marked with a double asterisk (**) in the description.
Series 6, Titles Edited by Humphries, ca. 1937-1968, mainly include correspondence with contributors and general plans for the book.
Series 7, Reviews by Humphries, ca. 1924-1967, includes both published and unpublished reviews.
Series 8, Reviews of Works by Humphries, 1940-1969, includes both published and unpublished material. Reviews of specific works by Humphries are included in Series 4.
Series 9, Biographical Material and Miscellaneous, ca. 1905-1969, includes a typescript autobiography of Humphries' mother Florence Yost Humphries
Series 10, Periodicals, 1896-1992, includes articles by or about Rolfe Humphries. This series is arranged alphabetically by periodical title.