John Burt
Degrees
Yale University, Ph.D.Yale University, M.A.
Yale University, B.S.
Expertise
American literature. Romanticism. Composition. Philosophy of education. Literature of the American South. Literature of the Civil War, Poetry. Interested in American poetry, in the way it faces questions of transcendence and value, identity and morality.Profile
Examining 19th-century political oratory, asking how a political culture founded on dealmaking and compromise comes to terms with conflicts over moral issues where dealmaking and compromise seem to be easily discredited strategies. WebpageCourses Taught
| COML/ENG | 148a | Fiction of the Second World War |
| EL | 65a | Humanities Fellows Senior Salon |
| ENG | 7a | American Literature from 1900 to 2000 |
| ENG | 46b | American Gothic Romantic Fiction |
| ENG | 112a | The Fierce Urgency of Now: Some Poetry in English Since 1945 |
| ENG | 117b | Novels of William Faulkner |
| ENG | 138a | Race, Region, and Religion in the Twentieth-Century South |
| ENG | 157a | Contemporary Poetry |
| ENG | 246a | Race and Reaction: Writing Reconstruction after the Civil War |
| HUM/UWS | 1a | Tragedy: Love and Death in the Creative Imagination |
Awards and Honors
Norman Grant (2014)
Paul Prosswimmer Professor of American Literature (2013)
Thirty Years of Service at Brandeis (2013)
Twenty Five Years of Service at Brandeis (2007)
Fellowship at the Newhouse Center for Humanities (2006 - 2007)
Norman Grant (2006 - 2007)
Ambassador Book Award, English-Speaking Union (1999)
Holman Prize, Society for the Study of Southern Literature, for The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren (1999)
Jules and Frances Landry Prize for The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren (1998)
American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1997)
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1997)
American Philosophical Society Grant (1996)
Mazer Grant (1996)
Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching (1994 - 1995)
Marver Bernstein Faculty Fellowship (1987)
Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship, to complete The Way Down (1986)
John A. Porter Fellowship (1982)
Mary Cady Tew Prize (1978)
C.B. Tinker Prize (1977)
Herson Scholarship (1977)
E.T. McLaughlin Prize (1976)
Scholarship
Burt, John. "Recovering John Crowe Ransom's Poems." Mississippi Quarterly (2021). (forthcoming)
Burt, John. "Review of Catholicism and American Borders in the Gothic Literary Imagination." Rev. of Catholicism and American Borders in the Gothic Literary Imagination, by Farrell O'Gorman. Journal of Religion and Literature 2021 (forthcoming)
Burt, John. "Well, What Would Lincoln Do?." Fusion: Global Art, Words and Music (2021): <https://www.fusionmagazine.org/well-what-would-lincoln-do>.
Burt, John. "Review of The Worlds of American Intellectual History, eds. Joel Isaac, James T. Kloppenberg, Michael O’Brien, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen." Rev. of The Worlds of American Intellectual History, by Joel Isaac, James T. Kloppenberg, Michael O’Brien, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen. Reviews in History http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/2263 2019
Burt, John. "The Lesson of Lincoln in the Age of Trump." Trump and Political Philosophy. vol. 1 Ed. Marc Sable and Angel Jaramillo. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019. 211-233.
Burt, John. "“Biography, Main Trends in Criticism, and Annotated Bibliography of Criticism” for “Peter Taylor”." Short Story Criticism. 2019.
Burt, John, Paula Rabinowitz. "Robert Penn Warren." Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. 2018.
Burt, John. "Introduction and Afterword." The Ballad of Billie Potts. Ed. Robert Penn Warren. Charlottetown, PEI: Bunim and Brannigan, 2018
Burt, John. "Poemscol (version 2.98)." 2018 <ctan.tug.org>.
Burt, John. "Review of Man's Better Angels:Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War." Rev. of Man's Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War, by Philip A. Gura. Journal of Southern History vol. 84 of 3 August 2018: 51-4.
Burt, John. "Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men (1946)." Handbook of the American Novel of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Ed. Timo Mueller. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. 264-277.
Burt, John. "Implicitness, Pragmatism and Responsibility in Lincoln: Response to Richard King, Peter Kuryla, and Peter Wirzbicki." Society for United States Intellectual History blog (2016): <http://s- usih.org/2015/11/roundtable-john-burts-lincolns-tragic-pragmatism-part- iii.html>.
Burt, John. "Lincoln's Ethics, by Thomas L. Carson." Rev. of Lincoln's Ethics, by Thomas L. Carson. Historian vol. 79 of 3 2017: 569-72.
Burt, John. "Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion by Louis Masur." Rev. of Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion, by Louis Masur. Journal of American History vol. 103 2016: 486-7.
Burt, John. "Prosperity and Tyranny in Lincoln's Lyceum Address." Lincoln's Political and Constitutional Thought. Ed. Nicholas Buccola. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2016. 13-43.
Burt, John. "Collective Guilt in Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address." American Political Thought 4. 3 (2015): 467–488.
Burt, John. "Negative Capability and Education." Literary Imagination 16. 3 (2015): 261-74.
Burt, John. "Review of Abraham Lincoln: Philosopher Statesman by Joseph R. Fornieri." Rev. of Abraham Lincoln: Philosopher Statesman, by Joseph Fornieri. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association vol. 36 of 1 2015: 64-69.
Burt, John. "Robert Penn Warren's Civil War." The Cambridge History of American Civil War Literature. Ed. Coleman Hutchinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015
Burt, John. "The Failure of Popular Sovereignty." Rev. of The Failure of Popular Sovereignty, by Christopher Childers. American Political Thought vol. 4 of 1 2015: 166-169.
Burt, John, CSPAN-3. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (recorded lecture). May 3, 2013. Yale University/ CSPAN. <http://www.c-span.org/video/?312485-1/lincolns-gettysburg-address>.
Burt, John, Maurice Cunningham. Interview about Lincoln's Tragic Pragmatism. April 21, 2013. University of Massachusetts-Boston. <https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/lincolns-tragic-pragmatism/id526399224?i=152883462&mt=2>.
Burt, John, National Constitution Center. Conceived, Brought Forth, Dedicated. November 18, 2013. National Constitution Center. <http://blog.constitutioncenter.org>.
Burt, John, William Voegeli. Upon Further Review: A CRB Discussion of Abraham Lincoln and Moral Conflict. March 25, 2014. Claremont Review. <http: //www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.843/pub detail.asp>.
Burt, John. "Lincoln and American Politics." Invited Lecture. University of Massachusetts, Boston. April 11, 2013.
Burt, John. "Lincoln and the Dred Scott Decision." Invited Lecture. University of Augsburg. July 4, 2014.
Burt, John. "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address." Invited Lecture. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library, Springfield IL. July 24, 2013.
Burt, John. "Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address." Invited Lecture. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN. December 5, 2013.
Burt, John. "Lincoln’s Tragic Pragmatism: A Conference on John Burt’s Book on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates." Yale Center for the Study of Representative Insitutions. Yale University. May 3, 2013.
Burt, John. "Negative Capability, Fallennness, and Reconciliation in Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address." Invited Lecture. Mahindra Center, Harvard University. November 6, 2013.
Burt, John. "Review of American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era by David Blight,." Rev. of American Oracle, by David Blight. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society vol. 112 of 2 2014: 319-22.
Burt, John. "Review of Southern Crossings: Poetry, Memory, and the Transcultural South by Daniel Cross Turner,." Rev. of Southern Crossings, by Daniel Cross Turner. MIssissippi Quarterly vol. 65 of 4 2014: 613-19.
Burt, John. "The Gettysburg Address." Invited Lecture. University of Augsburg. July 2, 2013.
Burt, John. "The Image of Lincoln in Robert Penn Warren." Robert Penn Warren Circle. Clarksville, TN. April 27, 2013.
podcast: "A Lincoln for Our Time" New York Times Book Review podcast February 17, 2013. Burt, John. New York Times, 2013.
podcast: What Would Lincoln Do. Burt, John. WBUR's "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook, March 2, 2013, 2013.
Burt, John. "A Moral Evolution." Chicago Tribune, February 16, 2013 (2013): <http://articles.chicagotribune. com/2013-02-16/features/ct-prj-0217-lincoln-tragic-pragmatism-john-burt-2013021 1 emancipation-war-powers-slavery>.
Burt, John. "Edmargin 1.2." 2013 <ctan.tug.org>.
Burt, John. "Endheads 1.51." 2013 <ctan.tug.org>.
Burt, John. "Hypotaxis and Parataxis." The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. 4th ed. 2013.
Burt, John. "The Agrarian Movement." Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. 4th ed. 2013.
Burt, John. "The Ever Deeper Ideal of Freedom." Harvard University Press blog (2013): <http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup publicity/ 2013/02/the-ever-deeper-ideal-of-freedom-john-burt.html>.
Burt, John. "The Fugitive Circle." The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. 4th ed. 2013.
Burt, John. "The Promise of Equality." Harvard University Press blog (2013): <http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup publicity/2013/ 02/the-promise-of-equality-john-burt.ht>.
Burt, John. Lincoln's Tragic Pragmatism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Burt, John. "Review of The Passage to Cosmos : Alexander von Humboldt and the shaping of America." Rev. of The Passage to Cosmos : Alexander von Humboldt and the shaping of America, by Walls, Laura Dassow. The Wordsworth Circle vol. vol.~42 no.~4 Autumn 2011: pp.~ 281-4..
Burt, John. ""The Passing of the Armies" (poem)." Measure (2009).
Burt, John. "Edmargin: A Simple Design for Critical Editions with Multiple Endnote Series." 2009 <http://www.ctan.org>.
Burt, John. "Lincoln's Dred Scott: Contesting the Declaration of Independence." American Literary History special issue: Lincoln and Cultural Value 21. 4 (2009): 730--751.
Burt, John. "The Nashville Fugitives." Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. 2009.
Burt, John. "review of Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren Vol.3: Triumph and Transition 1943--1952." Louisiana History 46. SUM-FAL (2008): 478-84.
Burt, John. "Purity, Panic and Pasiphae in Brother to Dragons." rWp: An Annual of Robert Penn Warren Studies 5. 1 (2007): 147--70.
Burt, John. "Robert Penn Warren's The Legacy of the Civil War and the Meaning of Pragmatism." American Literary History vol. 19. (2007): 964--996.
Burt, John. The Passing of the Armies (poem-- revised version) in H.R. Stoneback, ed., Homage to RPW: An Anthology of Poems of Robert Penn Warren. 2007. Roncesvaux Press, New Paltz, NY. (poem).
Burt, John. Victory. Cincinnati: Turning Point Press, 2007.
Burt, John. "Poemscol 2.52 Software for Typesetting Critical Editions of Poetry." 200
Burt, John. "Purity, Panic and Pasiphae in Brother to Dragons." Shawangunk Review xvii. 1 (2006): 4--23.
Burt, John. "Note on Uncertain Season in High Country." Southern Review 41. 2 (2005): 243--9.
Burt, John. "Purity, Panic, and Pasiphae in Brother to Dragons." Robert Penn Warren Studies (2005).
Burt, John. "Robert Penn Warren." The Oxford Companion to American Literature., 2005
Burt, John. "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Kingfish: essay-review of The Kingfish in Fiction by Keith Perry." Mississippi Quarterly 58. 4 (2005): 795--806.
Burt, John. "Using poemscol for Critical Editions of Poetry." The PracTeX Journal 5. (2005): <http://www.tug.org/pracjourn/>.
Burt, John. "Review of "Invisible Fences: Prose Poetry as a Genre in French and American Literature," by Steven Monte." Modern Philology 101. 3 (2004): 493-500.
Burt, John. "The Odyssey of Joel Barlow (Parts III, VI, and VII)." River City 4. 1 (2004): 27-33.
Burt, John. "1938," "Love and Fame," "What Ellen Said": republished in Words Brushed by Music: Selections from John Hopkins' Poetry and Fiction. John Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Burt, John. Selected Poems of Robert Penn Warren. Louisiana State University Press, 2001.
Burt, John. Victory at Sea: what are their names?. Edgewood, KY: R.L. Barth, 2001.
Burt, John. "Liberalism's Hope and Despair: Lincoln's Peoria Speech of 1854." Social Research 66. 2 (1999): 679-707.
Burt, John. After the Southern Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Burt, John. The Collected Poetry of Robert Penn Warren (A Critical Edition). Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
Burt, John. "Lincoln's Address to the Young Men's Lyceum: A Speculative Essay." Western Humanities Review 51. 3 (1997): 304-320.
Burt, John. Work Without Hope. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Burt, John. "Tyranny and Faction." The Federalist XIII. 2 (1993): 56-84.
Burt, John. "Learning to Write: The Narrative of Frederick Douglass." Western Humanities Review XLII. 4 (1988): 330-344.
Burt, John. Robert Penn Warren and American Idealism. Yale University Press, 1988.
Burt, John. The Way Down (Poems). Princeton University Press, 1988.
Burt, John. "Flannery O'Connor and What You Can't Talk About." Flannery O'Connor: Modern Critical Views. New Haven: Chelsea House, 1987. 125-143.