Traugott Lawler

Professor of English

Traugott Lawler, B.A. Holy Cross College, Ph.D. Harvard University, faculty member at Yale 1962-1967 and again 1981 to the present: you combine the scholarly gifts of a Latinist and medievalist with personal qualities that have allowed you to shine as one of Yale’s superb college masters. Scholar of Chaucer, your book on the Canterbury Tales, and your excellent editions of Garland and of Boece, as well as your work on Langland, have made you a prominent and well-regarded medievalist. At the same time, you have brought your skills as a Latinist to the service of the department, kindly and expertly tutoring students preparing to meet the department’s Latin requirement. You have cared deeply about your students, holding them to high standards and showing great care and concern for them at the same time, and have led fortunate Yale alumni in pilgrimage all over the Globe, to Ireland, Greece, the Celtic Isles and to Canterbury.

But your scholarship, teaching, and mentoring have been only a part of your Yale life. As a college master no one has ever been more dedicated. You and Peggy gave yourselves heart and soul to the Ezra Stiles community for nine years, and then again during a transition period, eating constantly in the dining hall, leading the charge in all Ezra Stiles intramurals (indeed playing in some of them), nurturing the arts festival, and dealing with triumph and tragedy alike with equal composure and skill. The Moose regarded you with universal affection, knowing that no Stilesian has ever fostered college spirit better. As you look forward to a freer life of work on Langland, spending time with your children and grandchildren, and perfecting your golf and softball skills, your Yale colleagues thank and salute you.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans