VISITING PROF TO DISCUSS WAR POETRY, PERSONAL REMEMBRANCES OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN, C.S. LEWIS

Jan 27th, 2005

MOBILE, Ala. - Dr. Christopher Armitage, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studied under J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, will speak at the University of Mobile on Thursday, Feb. 3.

Armitage will discuss war poetry of World War I and his personal remembrances of Tolkien and Lewis. The lecture will begin at 11 a.m. in Moorer Auditorium in Martin Hall on the University of Mobile campus. He will meet at 2 p.m. in the Martin Hall lobby for afternoon tea and an informal chat with students, faculty and the public.

Both events are free and the public is invited. The event is sponsored by the UM chapter of Alpha Chi interdisciplinary honor society.

Armitage was a student at Oxford and studied under Tolkien and Lewis, who were also on his oral examination committee for his degree.

Since 1967, Armitage has taught Shakespeare, 17th century literature, literature of the world wars and Canadian literature to several generations of students. His lively style and personal interest in his students has earned him several awards for excellent teaching: the Nicholas Salgo Outstanding Teacher Award, the first UNC Professor of Distinguished Teaching in 1995, a Tanner Award for excellence in undergraduate instruction in 2003 and most recently, he received his second Bowman and Gordon Gray chair (1986-1989, 2005-2010) for excellence in inspirational teaching of undergraduates. He also runs a 5-week summer program in Oxford, England, where students study Shakespeare in performance and literary writers of Oxford.

Recent publications include "Sweltering for Shakespeare" in the Chapel Hill News; "The Poetry of Piety: An Annotated Anthology of Christian Poetry," which he compiled with the Rev. Dr. Ben Witherington; and "Blue China and Blue Moods: Oscar Fashioning Himself at Oxford" in "Oscar Wilde: The Man, His Writings and His World," edited by Robert N. Keane.

He holds a bachelor of arts with honors and a master of arts, both from Oxford University, and a doctorate from Duke University.