Ada L. F. Snell | |
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![]() Ada L. F. Snell, from the 1922 yearbook of Mount Holyoke College | |
Born | May 11, 1870 Geneva, New York |
Died | April 18, 1972 South Hadley, Massachusetts |
Occupation(s) | Writer, poet |
Ada Laura Fonda Snell (May 11, 1870 – April 18, 1972) was an American poet and college professor. She taught English at Mount Holyoke College from 1892 until 1938.
Early life and education
[edit]Ada Laura Fonda Snell was born in Geneva, New York, the daughter of Marvin Snell and Sarah Eleanor Fonda Snell.[1] Her family ran a dairy farm. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1892.[2] She earned a master's degree from Yale University, and completed doctoral studies in English at the University of Michigan,[3] with a dissertation titled Pause and the Formation of Rhythmical Units: A Study based on a Consideration of Milton's Blank Verse (1916).[4] under the advice of Fred Newton Scott.[5]
Career
[edit]Snell began teaching at Mount Holyoke College in 1892. "Young students, I have discovered in my teaching of English, are very loath to believe that any great writer ever contemplated problems of form," she wrote in 1913; "they like to think that the commas, capitals, spelling and content are all the happy result of genius."[6] She retired as English department head[7] in 1938,[3][8][9] but remained involved in the campus community.[10]
Snell's academic work involved studies of poetic meters,[11] using recordings and other new technologies.[12][13] She was the author of Pause: A Study of its Nature and its Rhythmical Function in Verse, Especially Blank Verse (1918),[14] Mount Holyoke College Verse (1928),[15] Palatines along the Mohawk and their church in the wilderness (1948),[7][16] Joyful Songs: Carols of the Nativity (1958),[17] The First Noel: Animal Songs of the Nativity (1958),[18] and Where Birds Sing (1959, with Freda Reiter).[19] She also edited Thomas Henry Huxley's Autobiography and Selected Essays (1909),[20] the Riverside Essays series (1913, 1914),[21] and a collection of Katherine Irene Glascock's poetry.[22]
Snell was a member of the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.[23] In 1942 she was honored by the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association with a medal, and the citation "One of the great teachers of Mount Holyoke tradition. She explored the difficult field of metrical structure with the spirit of a scientist."[2]
Personal life
[edit]Snell died in 1972, aged 101 years.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Sarah E. Snell". Democrat and Chronicle. May 19, 1924. p. 24. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Ada Snell Gets Alumnae Medal". Democrat and Chronicle. June 1, 1942. p. 13. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Ada L. F. Snell, 101, English Professor". The New York Times. April 19, 1972. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
- ^ Snell, Ada Laura Fonda (1916). Pause and the formation of rhythmical units :study based on a consideration of Milton's blank verse. hdl:2027/mdp.39015070403293.
- ^ Stewart, Donald C.; Stewart, Patricia L. (November 15, 1997). The Life and Legacy of Fred Newton Scott. University of Pittsburgh Pre. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8229-7723-0.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F. (1913). "Chaucer's Comments on His Method of Composition". The English Journal. 2 (4): 231–234. doi:10.2307/800945. ISSN 0013-8274. JSTOR 800945.
- ^ a b "Palatines' Mohawk Valley Churches Remind of their Sturdy Faith". Democrat and Chronicle. July 18, 1948. p. 12. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "News by Classes". The Michigan Alumnus. 66: 312. May 7, 1960.
- ^ "Faculty Changes at Mt. Holyoke". The Boston Globe. March 12, 1938. p. 20. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mary Lyon Picture Found at College". The Berkshire Eagle. January 13, 1940. p. 18. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F. (1918). "An Objective Study of Syllabic Quantity in English Verse". PMLA. 33 (3): 396–408. doi:10.2307/456931. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 456931. S2CID 251023911.
- ^ Holder, Alan (1995). Rethinking Meter: A New Approach to the Verse Line. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-5292-0.
- ^ Chatman, Seymour (July 11, 2016). A theory of meter. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-11-135226-8.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F. (1918). Pause: a study of its nature and its rhythmical function in verse, especially blank verse. Contributions to rhetorical theory, VIII. Ann Arbor: [The Ann Arbor press].
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F; Mount Holyoke College (1928). Mount Holyoke College verse. Oxford: University Press. OCLC 1083504.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F (1948). Palatines along the Mohawk and their church in the wilderness. South Hadley, Mass. OCLC 4322227.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Snell, Ada L. F (1958). Joyful songs: carols of the Nativity. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 4050224.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F (1956). The first Noel: animal songs of the Nativity. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 1563950.
- ^ Snell, Ada L. F; Reiter, Freda (1959). Where birds sing. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 1358287.
- ^ Huxley, Thomas Henry; Snell, Ada L. F. (1909). Autobiography and selected essays. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 1172567.
- ^ "Book Table". Journal of Education. 79 (14): 385. April 2, 1914. doi:10.1177/002205741407901418. S2CID 220814909.
- ^ "Clipped From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 11, 1924. p. 29. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mount Holyoke College, Llamarada (1918 yearbook): 36.