Edwin Keppel Bennett facts for kids

Edwin Keppel Bennett, who also wrote under the names Francis Bennett and Francis Keppel (born September 26, 1887 – died June 13, 1958), was an English writer, poet, and an expert in German language and culture. He was also a very important scholar and teacher. From 1948 to 1956, he was the president of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which is a part of Cambridge University.

Life Story

Edwin Keppel Bennett was born in Wareham, Dorset, England. His father, Alfred Hockey Bennett, made sweets, and his mother was Emilie Keppel.

He went to Elm House School in Wareham. Later, he studied at the Universität Straßburg in Germany, which is now in France.

In 1914, he started studying at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He earned his first university degree (B.A.) in 1919 and a higher degree (M.A.) in 1923.

From 1921 to 1923, Bennett was the editor of the Caian, which was the college's magazine. He also gave a talk about poetry in 1922.

In 1923, he became a lecturer in German at Cambridge University. He became an official "fellow" of the college in 1926. A fellow is like a senior member of the college who teaches and does research. He also became a "Tutor," helping students with their studies. He became the "Senior Tutor" in 1931, a more important teaching role. He stopped being Senior Tutor in 1952, while he was president of the college.

During the First World War (1914-1918), Bennett served in the British Army. He worked in a special unit that gathered information, mainly in a place called Palestine.

His Books and Poems

Bennett's first book was called Built in Jerusalem’s Wall: A Book in praise of Jerusalem. He published it in 1920 using the pen name 'Francis Keppel'.

In 1934, his important book A History of the German "Novelle" from Goethe to Thomas Mann was published. A "Novelle" is a type of short story. This book was published by Cambridge University Press.

Another important book he wrote was Stefan George: A Critical Study, which came out in 1954. It was about the famous German poet Stefan George.

Bennett also helped Erich Heller with his highest university degree (his doctorate) at Cambridge.

Some of Bennett's poems were included in a collection called Cambridge Poets, 1914–1920: An Anthology. In 1920, his poem 'The Stranger' was published in the Caian magazine:

:The room grows silent, and the dead return:

Whispering faintly in the corridor,

They try the latch and steal across the floor

Towards my chair; and in the hush I turn

Eagerly to the shadows, and discern

The ghosts of friends whom I shall see no more,

Come back, come back from some Lethean shore

To the old kindly life for which they yearn.

How still they are! O, wherefore can I see

No sign of recognition in the eyes

That gaze in mine? Have they forgotten me

Who was their friend? They fade into the gloom;

And on my heart their plaintive murmur dies:

"A stranger now, a stranger fills his room".

Edwin Keppel Bennett passed away in 1958. He left most of his money to Gonville and Caius College. He is buried in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge in Cambridge.