Wilmon Brewer
Encyclopedia
Early life
Brewer was born in Hingham, MassachusettsHingham, Massachusetts
Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...
, and lived there for most of his life on his family's estate, Great Hill. When he was a young man, the family of his future wife, Katharine Hay More, purchased the property from Brewer's parents. During this time period, he and More fell in love. In the summer of 1922 they married, and then lived there, so even though the estate changed hands he lived on it essentially all his life.
Graduating from Harvard in 1917, magna cum laude, he volunteered for service in WWI. He served as a second lieutenant in the trench warfare in France, and was awarded the Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to Harvard, taught English, and earned his master's degree and doctorate in English there.
The Brewer family has been prominent for two centuries, including James Brewer (1742-1806), who was an early American patriot leader, Thomas Mayo Brewer
Thomas Mayo Brewer
Thomas Mayo Brewer was an American naturalist.Mayo is best known as the joint author, with Baird and Ridgway, of A History of North American Birds , which was the first attempt since John James Audubon's to complete the study of American ornithology.Brewer was born in Boston...
, who was a companion of naturalist John James Audubon
John James Audubon
John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...
, and Gen. Wilmon Blackmar, a Civil War medal of honor winner.
Poet and author
A good example of Brewer's skill as a classical scholar is his book OvidOvid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
's Metamorphoses in European Culture. This study provides commentary on the Brookes More (Brewer's father-in-law) translation of Ovid's work, which is recognized as one of the masterpieces of the golden age of Latin literature (written in AD 8, by this famous Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
poet). Brewer's book traces the Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Roman origins of the epic poem, as well as the subsequent influence on later European writers, such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. Brewer provides a comprehensive analysis of how the 15-book Metamorphoses influenced the entire history of Western culture.
Brewer was a prolific poet himself, publishing a number of books of poetry. He was also a biographer, writing a biography of Brookes More, and also of Maurice W. Parker, Sr. Parker was much admired by Brewer and his wife, and served as their voice coach (for poetry readings and lectures). Parker was highly regarded in the Boston area as a teacher of voice and music, and considered by Brewer to be the best dramatic coach in Boston and invaluable at bringing out the best in his students. He was also a landscape painter, violin maker, and a champion rifle shot and billiard player. Professor Kenneth Murdock, head of American literature at Harvard, ordered a number of copies of Brewer's book on Parker as an excellent example for his students on how to write a biography.
At the age of 90, Brewer published his autobiography, Looking Backwards. Brewer and his wife were adventurous world travelers throughout their lives and an extensive diary of their trips is included in the autobiography.
Brewer's books include:
- Shakespeare's Influence on Sir Walter Scott, 1925
- Dante's Eclogues, 1927
- Life and Poems of Brookes More, 1940, 2nd edition 1980
- About Poetry and Other Matters, 1943
- Adventures in Verse, 1945, 2nd edition 2005
- Talks About Poetry, 1948
- New Adventures, 1950
- A Life of Maurice Parker, 1954
- Adventures Further, 1958
- Still More Adventures, 1966
- Ovid's Metamorphoses in European Culture, 1978
- Concerning the Art of Poetry, 1979
- Latest Adventures, 1981
- Sonnets and Sestinas, 1983
- Looking Backwards, 1985
Philanthropy
Brewer and his wife were generous philanthropists. An early example of this is that at the age of 25, Brewer gave "The Old Ordinary," (a historic, 17th-century tavern), to the Hingham Historical Society. They also donated 300 acres of their Great Hill estate to the town of HinghamHingham, Massachusetts
Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...
, which is now More-Brewer Park. Their generosity made the purchase of World's End possible for use as a public park. World's End is a 251-acre wooded peninsula in Boston Harbor, which had been in the Brewer family since the 1880s. Wilmon Brewer was a dedicated supporter of the Hingham Public Library and served as a trustee from 1938 until 1985.