Child, Francis James

Child, Francis James,

1825–96, American scholar, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1846. At Harvard he was professor of rhetoric (1851–76) and English literature (1876–96). He greatly influenced modern methods of Chaucer study. He is best known, however, for his English and Scottish Popular Ballads (5 vol., 1883–98). This is a major source on folklore in which Child defined, with examples, some 305 types of ballads, including complete textual variations.

Child, Francis James

(1825–96) philologist; born in Boston, Mass. He graduated first in his class at Harvard (1846), where with the exception of two years' study in Germany he remained on the faculty until his death, teaching rhetoric, oratory, and English literature. Child's most important scholarly contributions include his 5-volume edition of Spenser's Poetical Works (1855), for many years the authoritative text, and seminal papers on the language and versification of Chaucer (1863) and Gower (1873). Working from variant manuscript sources, he pioneered a comparative approach to folklore in his magnum opus, English and Scottish Popular Ballads (10 vols. 1883–98); known as the "Child ballads," this comprehensive collection provided the basis for ballad studies and remains the most complete work of its kind.