Francis Peabody Magoun

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Francis Peabody Magoun
Francis Peabody Magoun, 1918
Born(1895-01-05)5 January 1895
New York, New York
Died5 June 1979(1979-06-05) (aged 84)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Allegiance United States
Service/branchRoyal Air Force (United Kingdom)
UnitRoyal Air Force
Battles/wars World War I
AwardsMilitary Cross, Order of the Lion of Finland
Alma materHarvard University

Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.

ancient Germanic naming practices, and translator of numerous important texts. Though an American, he served in the British Royal Flying Corps (later Royal Air Force) as a lieutenant during World War I. Magoun was victor in five aerial combats and was also decorated with Britain's Military Cross
for gallantry.

Early life and military career

Magoun was born to a prosperous family in

American Field Service
. From 3 March – 3 August he was a volunteer ambulance driver.

After a brief return to the United States, he went to

Gheluvelt, another on 10 March fifteen miles (24 km) east of Ypres, and a third on 15 March in the vicinity of Dadizeele. His fourth was on 28 March near Quiery. He was wounded in action while strafing enemy troops on 10 April, but returned to his squadron in October and became an ace on 28 October, downing a Fokker D.VII near Anor for his fifth victory.[1][2]

Magoun was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in June 1918: "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When engaged on bombing work he attacked and shot down an enemy machine, with the result that it crashed to earth. He has also engaged massed enemy troops and transport with machine gun fire from low altitudes, throwing the enemy into the utmost confusion and inflicting heavy casualties. His work has been carried out with consistent keenness and tenacity."[3]

Scholarly career

Francis P. Magoun Jr. in 1930
Francis P. Magoun Jr. in 1930

Upon his return to the United States, he was appointed instructor in Comparative Literature at Harvard (1919); during this period, he completed his

PhD in philology at Harvard University with his 1923 dissertation on two English version of the Historia de preliis.[4] His work was also part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.[5]

At Harvard, he was made Instructor of English, and proceeded through the academic ranks thereafter (Professor of Comparative Literature, 1937; Professor of English, 1951).[6] His tweedy figure was familiar on campus; he was rumored to have no office, and it was said he could only be spoken to while walking.[7]

He was distinguished by a longstanding interest in popular

Walter Ong's teachers). Magoun argued that written Anglo-Saxon poetry was essentially a transcription of traditional oral performance, and furthermore, heavily imbued with pre-Christian
ideas and values. The position has implications for how Anglo-Saxon poetry should be approached for purposes of literary criticism. His ideas sparked ongoing controversy among medievalists, with some accepting his view, others arguing for a written poetry inspired by traditional idiom and methods (and a complex layering of Christian and pre-Christian influences), and still others insisting that the entire Anglo-Saxon corpus consists of individually authored, written texts with an exclusively Christian matrix of belief. The essay has been anthologized many times.

In late middle age, he undertook to learn the Finnish language in order to explore another area of oral tradition, and exercised considerable influence upon Finnish studies; contemporaries remember the growing library of Finnish texts in his house on Reservoir Street. His 1963 prose translation of the Kalevala remains a standard, and he was awarded the Finnish Order of the Lion of Finland in 1964 for his contributions to the study of Finnish culture.

He retired from Harvard in 1961, and he was honored at the close of his career with a well-regarded Festschrift: Franciplegius; medieval and linguistic studies in honor of Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr., edited by Jess B. Bessinger and Robert Payson Creed.

In a legend circulating among medievalists, Magoun is said to have been the model for the character Mr. Magoo.[9] However, there is no evidence that artist John Hubley knew the scholar.

Family life

Magoun married Margaret Boyden on 30 June 1926, in Winnetka, Illinois. Their children were Francis Peabody Magoun III (1927–1999; m. Faith Gowen); William Cowper Boyden Magoun (1928–2014; m. Patricia Lavezzorio); Margaret Boyden Magoun (1932–2017; m. Guido Rothrauff); and Jean Bartholow Magoun (born 1937; m. Ward Farnsworth).

Publications

Books

  • History of football from the beginnings to 1871. 1938.
  • Old-English anthology: translations of Old-English prose and verse 1950.
  • Walter of Aquitaine; materials for the study of his legend. 1950.
  • Graded Finnish reader. 1957.
  • Chaucer gazetteer. 1961.
  • Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District. 1963.
  • The Old Kalevala and Certain Antecedents. 1969.

He is also credited for a few other works:

Articles

See also

References

  1. ^ Hudson, James J. (2003). "Lt. Frances Peabody Magoun Jr.: An American Ace in the RFC" (PDF). Cross & Cockade. 34 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  2. ^ "Francis Peabody Magoun". The Aerodrome. 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  3. ^ (MC citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 22 June 1918)
  4. ^ The gest of Alexander: Two middle English alliterative fragments, Alexander A and Alexander B, translated from a J2-recension of the Historia de Preliis.
  5. ^ "Francis Peabody Magoun". Olympedia. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  6. ^ The President and Fellows of Harvard College (1937). Historical Register of Harvard University 1636-1936. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
  7. ^ Kenvin, Roger Lee (4 June 1998). "Remembering Harvard, 1949-1950". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  8. ^ Bynum, David E. (1974). "Four Generations of Oral Literary Studies at Harvard University; Child's Legacy Enlarged: Oral Literary Studies at Harvard Since 1856". Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  9. St. Louis University) - in johnwalter.blogspot.com : FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2005