William Winter

Shakespeare's England. By William Winter

William Winter (July 15, 1836 - June 30, 1917) was an American dramatic critic and author He was born on July 15, 1836 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Winter graduated from Harvard Law School in 1857. William Winter wore many literary hats during his long, illustrious career: theater critic, biographer, poet, essayist, among them. He is known for his Romantic-style poetry, and for his long career as an editor and writer for some of New York City's great papers. Winter was a tour de force in the original Bohemian scene of Greenwich Village, going on to become one of the most influential men of letters of the last half of the 19th century and the pre-eminent drama critic and biographer of the times.[citation needed] Winter became the unofficial biographer of the Pfaff's Circle of Greenwich Village of which he was a part. The Pfaffian's spawned the careers of such writers as Walt Whitman and Mark Twain.