Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1977 Hiram Corson: Interpretative Reader, English Teacher, Literary Scholar. Linda Frances Welden Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Welden, Linda Frances, "Hiram Corson: Interpretative Reader, English Teacher, Literary Scholar." (1977). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3141. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3141 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler’s Green High Wycombe. Bucks, England HP10 8HR 77- 28,706 WELDEN, Linda Frances, 1942- HIRAM CORSON: INTERPRETATIVE READER, ENGLISH TEACHER, LITERARY SCHOLAR. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1977 Speech Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 © 1977 LIN D A FRANCES WELDEN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED HIRAM CORSON: INTERPRETATIVE READER, ENGLISH TEACHER, LITERARY SCHOLAR A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy m The Department of Speech by Linda Frances Welden B.S., Georgia Southern College, 1964 M.S., Georgia Southern College, 1968 August, 1977 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To irry advisor, Dr. Francine Merritt, for the wisdom and generosity of her counsel; to Dr. Mary Frances HopKins, Dr. Clinton Bradford, Dr. Waldo Braden and Dr. Fabian Gudas for their encouragement and valuable suggestions; to Robert Overstreet for his friendship and guidance; to Jim Krestalude and his family for providing me with a home in New York; to Kay LaCaze for her innu­ merable kindnesses and to her family for taking me into their homes and hearts; to Charles Porterfield and my colleagues at A. S. U. for their support; to the librarians in the Cornell Archives, Belk Interlibrary Loan, and Hill Memorial for their assistance; to Allison Phifer for the excellent typing; to Paul Gray and Tom Sloane who encouraged unknowingly; to my parents, Charles Welden and Dorothy Thompson Welden, and my brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Aundrea, whose loving sacri­ fices and faith in me made this study possible, I offer my deepest gratitude. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ........................... 1 2. A BIOGRAPHY OF HIRAM CORSON BEFORE 18 70 . 12 3. THE FIRST DECADE AT CORNELL: 1870-1879 .. 56 EXTRACURRICULAR READING IN ITHACA ......... 77 OTHER READINGS AND LECTURES IN AMERICA . 102 CORSON IN EUROPE ...........................109 4. THE BROWNING YEARS: 1880-1889 ............... 122 CORSON AND AMERICAN BROWNING C L U B S ....... 123 CORSON'S ASSOCIATION WITH BROWNING IN EUROPE ....................................144 ADDITIONAL LITERARY INVOLVEMENTS ........... 163 5. THE REFLECTIVE YEARS: 1890-1899 ............. 178 6. THE YEARS OF SPIRITUALISM: 19 00-1911.... 217 TOUR PERFORMANCES ........................ 217 PERFORMANCES IN ITHACA ...................... 239 CORSON AND SPIRITUALISM .................. 252 HONORS AND REMINISCENCES.................. 269 7. THE ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT, AND INFLUENCE OF CORSON'S LITERARY THEORY .................... 284 THE ORIGIN OF CORSON'S LITERARY THEORY . 285 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CORSON'S LITERARY THEORY .............................. 295 iii THE INFLUENCE OF CORSON'S LITERARY THEORY ............................ 337 8. CONCLUSION .................................... 352 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 359 VITA .......................................... 367 iv ABSTRACT Hiram Corson (1828-1911) was a prominent American literary scholar of the nineteenth century. He achieved recognition as a professor of English literature, an interpretative reader of works by American and British authors, and an author of books and articles on literary study. Advising that a student could profit more from hearing an interpretative reading than from reading about literature, he recommended that a teacher could cultivate his voice, assimilate the literature, and then perform it. Corson exemplified his philosophy in his practice. Two earlier studies have surveyed Corson's writing and teaching career. The present study goes beyond them, analyzing Corson's personal and professional correspond­ ence, books, speeches, and unpublished manuscripts. Student publications at Cornell, newspaper items, period­ ical articles, and taped interviews supplement the investigation. Consequently this study presents a comprehensive picture of Corson's life and work. During the first half of Corson's life he acquired his education, sought early employment, became an elocutionist, gave readings and literary lectures, and held professorships at Girard College and St. John's College. In addition he and his wife Caroline Rollin were associated with a school in Washington, D. C. In 1870 Corson was appointed Resident Professor v of Rhetoric, Oratory, and English Literature at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he spent the remainder of his life. His first decade at Cornell established the pattern he continued throughout his career. In the classroom he employed interpretative reading in his teaching of literature. His readings soon extended beyond his classroom to include all students, as well as others. He gave readings and lectures in Ithaca and cities beyond. In 1877 he lectured to the New Shakspere Society of London. Corson was influential in establishing the popularity of Browning studies. He organized the first Browning Club and was a charter member of the London Browning Society. Acclaimed as a leading Browning scholar, he read and lectured from the poet's writing in America and abroad. He was personally acquainted with Browning and was instrumental in organizing Browning Societies for the oral study of the poet's works. Corson continued his English teaching, interpre­ tative reading, and literary scholarship at Cornell until his retirement in 1903. He pursued his customary activities when Professor Emeritus and also intensified his interest in spiritualism. Honors were bestowed upon him in his last years and complimentary reminiscences of acquaintances followed his death. His influence on teaching persisted in English pedagogy beyond his lifetime. vi Hiram Corson's long experience as an interpre­ tative reader, English teacher, and literary scholar fully justified the recognition his contemporaries gave to his work. His publications and some representative speeches reveal the origins and development of his literary theory, but it is his exemplification of that theory in his own career that validates for modern oral interpretation scholars the value of his theory and practice. Corson is appropriately credited with confirmation of the importance of interpretative reading to an understanding of literary texts, with advocacy of interpretation as a tool for practical literary criticism, and with rejection of the mechanical tradition in the study of literary performance. vii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Hiram Corson, a prominent interpretative reader, English teacher, and literary scholar in the nineteenth century, devoted most of the eighty-three years of his life to the