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Ada L. F. Snell

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Ada L. F. Snell
A middle-aged white woman wearing pince-nez glasses and a white blouse or dress with a lace collar
Ada L. F. Snell, from the 1922 yearbook of Mount Holyoke College
BornMay 11, 1870
Geneva, New York
DiedApril 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

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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

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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

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Snell died in 1972, aged 101 years.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Sarah E. Snell". Democrat and Chronicle. May 19, 1924. p. 24. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Ada Snell Gets Alumnae Medal". Democrat and Chronicle. June 1, 1942. p. 13. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c "Ada L. F. Snell, 101, English Professor". The New York Times. April 19, 1972. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "News by Classes". The Michigan Alumnus. 66: 312. May 7, 1960.
  9. ^ "Faculty Changes at Mt. Holyoke". The Boston Globe. March 12, 1938. p. 20. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Mary Lyon Picture Found at College". The Berkshire Eagle. January 13, 1940. p. 18. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Holder, Alan (1995). Rethinking Meter: A New Approach to the Verse Line. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-5292-0.
  13. ^ Chatman, Seymour (July 11, 2016). A theory of meter. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-11-135226-8.
  14. ^ 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].
  15. ^ Snell, Ada L. F; Mount Holyoke College (1928). Mount Holyoke College verse. Oxford: University Press. OCLC 1083504.
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ Snell, Ada L. F (1958). Joyful songs: carols of the Nativity. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 4050224.
  18. ^ Snell, Ada L. F (1956). The first Noel: animal songs of the Nativity. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 1563950.
  19. ^ Snell, Ada L. F; Reiter, Freda (1959). Where birds sing. New York: Bookman Associates. OCLC 1358287.
  20. ^ Huxley, Thomas Henry; Snell, Ada L. F. (1909). Autobiography and selected essays. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 1172567.
  21. ^ "Book Table". Journal of Education. 79 (14): 385. April 2, 1914. doi:10.1177/002205741407901418. S2CID 220814909.
  22. ^ "Clipped From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 11, 1924. p. 29. Retrieved August 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Mount Holyoke College, Llamarada (1918 yearbook): 36.
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