Alexander, William John
(1855-1944)
English
University College
"Alexander was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1855, and completed his secondary education at the Hamilton Collegiate Institute. From there he entered the University of Toronto, graduating in 1873. With a Dominion Gilchrist Scholarship, he was able to attend the University of London, where he completed a first class honours degree in English in 1877. Following that period of study, he taught at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, PEI for two years (1878-79), and then moved on to graduate work at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD), completing his PhD in Greek and Philology in 1883. He followed this with a year of study at the University of Heidelberg, and then an appointment in 1884 as professor of language and literature at Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS). This led in turn to an appointment in 1889 at the University of Toronto, to the newly established chair in English at University College. He remained in this position until his retirement in 1926. The Department gave him a farewell dinner at Hart House on December 4, 1926, when Robert Knox read the following poem:
Professor Alexander
1 I trust, my frien', that you'll forgie 2 A prosy body e'en like me 3 For being wi' yoursel' sae free 4 In ragged rhyme. 5 Pray, tell me what your thochts may be 6 Some ither time.
7 We miss you sair. For wha like you 8 Could sift the tinsel frae the true, 9 And gie each man his honest due 10 Of blame or praise, 11 When he would set his thochts on view 12 Of poems or plays.
13 And wha had sic a bonnie art 14 To mak sae clear what he'd impart, 15 Or to lay bare a poet's heart 16 Wi' sure appeal; 17 Twa generations you has gart 18 To see and feel.
19 Yours was the gift to mak folks share 20 Your ain delight in varied fare: 21 They'd ride wi' you upon Tam's mare 22 Frae Cutty Sark, 23 And then go soaring in the air 24 Wi' Shelley's lark.
25 You've ae dislike:-- let's noo confess't -- 26 You canna thole the second best: 27 And any gaudy mind that's dressed 28 Wi' mere pretence 29 Lord how it wilts before your test 30 O' common sense.
31 And often in the council ha' 32 When ithers haver o'er the law 33 And truth is tint amang them a' 34 That wrestle wi't, 35 You'll up and say a word or twa 36 And, lo, we'll see't.
37 E'en though your pow be stroked wi' grey, 38 There's nae chiel younger, I daur say, 39 Mair live to interests o' the day 40 Or morrow even, 41 Frae Lawrence to the C.T.A. 42 Or group o' Seven.
43 Would mair o' us had your rare knack 44 To carry wisdom on your back, 45 Yet keep a supple mind and swack 46 And open-wide, 47 And snap your fingers at the wrack 48 O' time and tide.
49 And noo you've thochts, I ken fu' well, 50 to send, for hearing o' yoursel', 51 Baith me and my puir rhymes to Hell, 52 Wi' candour: 53 But even then I'd turn and yell 54 "That's Alexander.
17.
[The notes, all in the right margin, are by Knox, perhaps a small joke with Alexander, who had spent so much time writing them himself and was of Scottish parents. The line numbers are by this editor.] gart: made.
26.
thole: endure.
32.
haver: talk nonsense.
33.
tint: lost.
37.
pow: head.
38.
chiel: man.
45.
swack: vigorous.
He continued to be a living presence for his eighteen years as a professor emeritus, most conspicuously at the Alexander Lectures which he attended from 1929-1944, the year of his death."
Alexander's publications combined textbooks aimed at the secondary schools, along with a range of scholarly publications in English. The former include:
Shorter Poems (published by the T. Eaton Co., initially in 1924)
Short Stories and Essays (published by the Ryerson Press in 1928)
The latter included:
An introduction to the poetry of Robert Browning. Boston: Ginn, 1889.
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display_rpo/edition/wja.html
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/collections/findaids/Alexander83.pdf
Harris, Robin S. English Studies at Toronto: A history. Toronto: University of Toronto Governing Council, 1988.
Murray, Heather. Working in English: history, institution, resources. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996