John Collins Pope, a distinguished scholar of Old English language and literature and the William Lampson Professor Emeritus of English, died of heart failure at his home in New Haven on April 18. He was 93 years old.
Professor Pope was well-known in the scholarly world for having worked out the metrical patterns of Old English poetry -- a puzzle that had long eluded scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to his book on Old English meter, he was the author of a number of acclaimed editions of Old English texts. He trained generations of teachers of Old English and of the poetry of Edmund Spenser.
Born Dec. 4, 1904, in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Pope attended Yale College, earning his B.A. in 1925. He remained at Yale for his graduate training, receiving a Ph.D. in 1931, and he served as a member of the University's English department for nearly 50 years, beginning as an instructor in 1928 and retiring in 1971. He remained active as a member of the Yale and New Haven communities and as a scholar, and had completed a final scholarly article a few days before his death.
He was a trustee of the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut, and was known as a generous philanthropist who contributed to many organizations in New Haven and elsewhere.
Professor Pope was tenacious in pursuing solutions to complex scholarly problems. In the 1930s no one, including the noted German scholar Eduard Sievers, had been able to propose a convincing description of how Old English poetry would have been recited in its original setting. Most of the lines were easy to scan, but recurrent irregularities defied analysis. Professor Pope showed that order could be brought out of this chaos if certain lines of verse were assumed to begin with a pause, equivalent to a musical rest, during which the bard would have struck a chord on his lyre. This solution made it possible to hear the music of Old English poetry once again.
Professor Pope was predeceased by his wife Jean Warner Pope, and is survived by his children, Mary Pope Hirsch, Henry Francis Pope, and Penelope Pope Doxon; seven grandchildren; and six great- grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Professor Pope's memory may be sent to the Yale University Library, or to the Hill-Stead Museum.