THROUGH ALL THE LAND

Professor Kittredge's fame has spread in the words of his hero, Beowulf, "wide through all the land." Wherever scholars are gathered in the study of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Beowulf, wherever medieval romances, English and Scottish ballads are delighting students anew there will be felt the influence of George Lyman Kittredge.

More than 50 years ago Professor Kittredge started on his career of inspiring his students, of inculcating in them a reverence for the truth. For over 30 years the caste of these he instructed as to what Shakespeare really meant has been increasing in numbers.

The true teacher not only ferrets out a significant--and frequently the least obvious--factors in a given passage, interpreting it in accord with the disparity between the present and the past, making clear the while why the passage is significant--in addition to this he so fires his students with enthusiasm that some feel driven to research of their own, while the majority return to the text with a deep and lasting understanding of its true meaning. Because Professor Kittredge accomplished these two results virtually to perfection, he is responsible for our conception of Shakespeare and has himself taught every recognized Shakespearian authority in modern America.

Harvard joins Professor kittredge's family in extending to him heartiest congratulations on the occasion of his 75th birthday wishing him continued success and, if possible, further renown than he has thus far so justly merited.