Thomas F. Parkinson Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, was a poet in his own right; an expert on the poetry of W. B. Yeats; and one of the first academic authorities to write about the Beat poets and novelists of San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. A deeply thoughtful man of great integrity, he was a quiet political activist for much of his life, and survived a murder attempt in 1961 by a deranged former student who sought to "get someone who was associated with Communism." Though Parkinson survived being shot in the face (and bore the scars of the assault for the rest of his life), the teaching assistant who was with him at the time was killed. Thomas Parkinson died of an apparent heart attack in 1992 after a long illness.

Early life and influences

Parkinson's early life was affected by the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 and the Second World War. Growing up in San Francisco as the son of a master-plumber union leader who was blacklisted during the General Strike of the late 1930s, Parkinson developed a respect for labor and a sensitivity to social injustice. He attended Lowell High School and some junior college, where he was inspired by gifted teachers. When WWII began, Parkinson enlisted in the Army, but was eventually discharged because he was too tall. In the years that followed, Parkinson worked a motley series of jobs, as an insurance agent, a ship's outfitter, and a lumberjack. And he continued to read widely and deeply. He eventually returned to UC Berkeley, where he completed his Bachelor's degree in three years.

Academic career and activism

While he was developing an academic career at Berkeley in the 1950s, Parkinson became immersed in the continuing political battles of his times. A tireless supporter of students both inside and outside the classroom, Parkinson made a number of public statements about paltry funding for student scholarships, including those for women students. An article he published in the campus newspaper, the Daily Californian, sparked the murder attempt by a former student who claimed to have been commanded by God. Parkinson was severely injured in the attack—several of his vertebrae were fused and his face permanently damaged, and the teaching assistant who was with him at the time was killed. Parkinson continued to promote liberal causes, however, and served as campus Ombudsman, chaired the Berkeley chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

American Association of University Professors

The American Association of University Professors is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership is about 47,000, with over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations...

, and testified at the obscenity trial on behalf of Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

's Howl

Howl

"Howl" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1955 and published as part of his 1956 collection of poetry titled Howl and Other Poems. The poem is considered to be one of the great works of the Beat Generation, along with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch...

. He was instrumental in helping promote humanities study, teacher training, and extension courses for non-matriculated students during a period when the university was pressured to specialize its programs and become increasingly elite.

Publications

During this period, Parkinson's academic career began to flourish as he published two critical works: W. B. Yeats, Self-Critic (1961) and W. B. Yeats, The Later Poetry (1964), which established him as an authority on the Anglo-Irish poet. He was also one of the first academic critics to appreciate and promote the works of Beat writers like Allen Ginsberg, but also of John Montague (poet)

John Montague (poet)

John Montague is an Irish poet. He was born in New York and brought up in Tyrone. He has published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. He is one of the best known Irish contemporary poets...

, and Robert Duncan

Robert Duncan (poet)

Robert Duncan was an American poet and a student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition who spent most of his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the poets of the New American Poetry and Black...

. He published his Casebook on the Beats in 1961. He became part of the circle of writers, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...

, that helped evolve the San Francisco literary culture of the 1960s, and served as a unique voice as both critic and fellow-poet. Later volumes on Hart Crane

Hart Crane

-Career:Throughout the early 1920s, small but well-respected literary magazines published some of Crane’s lyrics, gaining him, among the avant-garde, a respect that White Buildings , his first volume, ratified and strengthened...

and other poets won him lasting acclaim. His last book,Poets, Poems, Movements (1987), is an award-winning collection of essays.