Richmond Lattimore
Richmond Alexander Lattimore (
May 6,
1906 -
February 26,
1984) was an
American poet and
translator known for his translations of the
Greek classics, especially his versions of the
Iliad and
Odyssey, still considered superior despite their age.
Born to David and Margaret Barnes Lattimore in
Paotingfu,
China, he graduated from
Dartmouth College in
1926. He was a
Rhodes Scholar at
Christ Church,
Oxford and received his B.A. in
1932, then received a Ph.D. from the
University of Illinois in
1934. He joined the Department of Greek at
Bryn Mawr College the following year, and married Alice Bockstahler, with whom he later had two sons, Steven and Alexander. From
1943 to
1946, Lattimore was absent from his professorial post to serve in the
United States Navy, but returned after the war to remain at Bryn Mawr, with periodic visiting positions at other universities, until his retirement in
1971. He continued to publish poems and translations for the remainder of his life, with two poems appearing in print posthumously.
Lattimore was a Fellow of the
Academy of American Poets, and a member of
Phi Beta Kappa, the
National Institute of Arts and Letters, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the
American Philosophical Society, the
American Philological Association, and the
Archaeological Institute of America, as well as a Fellow of the
American Academy at Rome and an Honorary
Student at
Christ Church, Oxford.
*
Bryn Mawr bio of Lattimore, with bibliography
