Muir to Give Norton Talks For 1955-56

Edwin Muir, Scottish author and poet, announced Saturday in Edinburgh that he has been appointed Charles Eliot Norton lecturer on poetry for next year.

Warden of Newbattle Abbey College, Edinburgh, Muir will give a series of lectures here on some general aspect of literature. He will probably also teach a course in the humanities.

No Lectures This Year

The lectures are not being given this year because none of the scholars invited were able to accept. In past years, however, such men as Aaron Copeland, Thornton Wilder, and E. E. Cummings have given the series. In 1951 Wilder also taught an elementary humanities course.

Muir has written a number of books, including "The Marionette," "The Three Brothers," and "Poor Tom," and several volumes of poetry and literary criticism. In collaboration with his wife he has also translated some of the works of Franz Kafka.

The members of the committee choosing Muir were Archibald MacLeish, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory; John P. Coolige '35, associate professor of Fine Arts; Renato Poggioli, professor of Slavic; Perry G. E. Miller, professor of American Literature; and Huntington Cairns, director of the National Gallery in. Washington, D.C.

Lectureships Begun in 1925

The Norton lectureships began in 1925 and have been given annually since then except for the academic years 1927-8 and 1934-5 and the war years. Every other year the lecture is given on literature, with fine arts and music alternating in the years between.

Although the lectureship is nominally for poetry, the endowment specifically calls for a broad interpretation of this definition so that such other fields as music and fine arts may be included.