Nevill Coghill facts for kids

Nevill Henry Kendal Aylmer Coghill (born April 19, 1899 – died November 6, 1980) was an English expert in literature. He is best known for making a modern English version of Geoffrey Chaucer's famous book, Canterbury Tales.

About Nevill Coghill

Nevill Coghill came from an interesting family. His father was Sir Egerton Coghill, 5th Baronet, and his younger brother, Ambrose Coghill, became an actor.

Early Life and Education

Nevill Coghill went to school at Haileybury and Imperial Service College. After that, he studied History and English at Exeter College, Oxford. He served in the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War from 1917 to 1919.

A Life in Academia

In 1924, Nevill Coghill became a Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford, which is a special teaching position. He held this role until 1957. There is even a small statue of him in the college chapel. Later, in 1948, he became a professor at Gresham College. From 1957 to 1966, he was the Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford.

Bringing Stories to Life

Nevill Coghill was very talented at making old stories new again. His translations of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and William Langland's Piers Plowman were first created for BBC radio shows.

He was also well-known for directing and producing plays in Oxford. He famously directed The Tempest for the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1949.

The Inklings Group

Nevill Coghill was part of a famous discussion group called "The Inklings." This group included many important scholars from Oxford, like the famous authors J. R. R. Tolkien (who wrote The Lord of the Rings) and C. S. Lewis (who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia). They would meet to talk about literature and their own writings.

In 1968, Nevill Coghill worked with Martin Starkie to create a musical version of Canterbury Tales. This musical was very successful and was performed in London's West End and on Broadway in New York. It even received four Tony nominations, which are big awards for theatre. They worked together again in 1973 on a follow-up musical called The Homeward Ride.

His Books and Films

Nevill Coghill wrote many books, mostly about English literature and his translations.

List of Works

• The Pardon of Piers Plowman (1945)
• The Masque of Hope (1948)
• Visions from Piers Plowman (1949)
• The Poet Chaucer (1949; a second edition came out in 1967)
• The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (1952)
• Geoffrey Chaucer (1956)
• Shakespeare's Professional Skills (1964)
• Langland: Piers Plowman (1964)
• Chaucer's Idea of What Is Noble (1971)
• Collected Papers (1988)

Film Adaptation

Nevill Coghill also helped create a film.

• Doctor Faustus (1967) - He worked on the screenplay and directed this movie.

See also

• List of Gresham Professors of Rhetoric