Helen Damico facts for kids

Helen Damico (born January 30, 1931 – died April 14, 2020) was an important American scholar. She was born in Greece and became an expert in Old English language and its literature. This includes famous stories and poems from a very long time ago.

Helen Damico's Life and Work

Helen Damico was born on January 30, 1931, in Chios, Greece. When she was six years old, in 1937, her family moved to the United States.

She studied at the University of Iowa and earned her first degree in 1952. Later, she taught at Brooklyn College and the University of Minnesota. She continued her studies and received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1980.

In 1981, Helen Damico started teaching at the University of New Mexico. She later helped create the Institute for Medieval Studies there. This institute helps people learn more about the Middle Ages. She eventually became a Professor Emerita, which means she was a respected professor who had retired.

Studying Ancient Stories

Helen Damico wrote a very important book called Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition. She studied women in old stories from England and Norse countries. Her work on a character named Wealhþeow is often mentioned by other scholars.

She believed that two characters from the ancient poem Beowulf were like valkyrie figures. These characters were Wealhþeow and Grendel's Mother. Valkyries were powerful female figures in Norse myths. Beowulf is a very old English poem, written between 700 and 1000 AD.

Helen Damico received several awards for her work. She won the New Mexico Humanities Award for her contributions to the humanities. She also received the CARA Award from the Medieval Academy of America. This award recognized her excellent service to the study of the Middle Ages.

Her Books

Helen Damico wrote and edited several books about old literature.

Books She Wrote

• Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition (1984)
• Beowulf and the Grendel-kin: Politics and Poetry in Eleventh-Century England (2015)

Books She Edited

• Medieval Scholarship: Biographical Studies on the Formation of a Discipline (3 volumes)
• Heroic Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon Period: Studies in Honor of Jess B. Bessinger, Jr. (with John Leyerle; 1993)
• New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. (with Alexandra Hennessey Olsen; 1990)

Her Passing

Helen Damico passed away on April 14, 2020. Her death was caused by COVID-19.