George Santayana was a famous poet and philosopher of the 19th and 20th centuries. His many works are known around the world. He had a very interesting life, filled with accomplishments that influenced the philosophical and poetic worlds.
Santayana was born on December 16, 1863, in Madrid, Spain. He was born to Agustin Ruiz de Santayana and Josefina Borras Sturgis (Flamm). George Santayana was an only child, and his full name was Jorge Agustin Nicolas Ruiz de Santayana (“George Santayana” Poetic; Flamm).
Santayana’s mother was widowed to George Sturgis before marrying Agustin Santayana (Flamm). She was born in Scotland to a Spanish diplomat. Santayana’s father was born in 1812, and was a child servant in Spain (Saatkamp; “George Santayana” Poetic). His early career was a job as an apprentice to a professional painter while he was studying law (Saatkamp). In 1866, George Santayana’s parents separated (“George Santayana” Poetic).
After the separation, Santayana stayed with his father. In 1872, they moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where Santayana would live for the next forty years of his life (“George Santayana” Poetic; Flamm). Santayana went to school at the Boston Latin School from 1874-1882. During his early education, Santayana began to develop a liking for poetry. However, Santayana wanted to be an architect (Flamm). After finishing school at the Boston Latin School, he attended Harvard for college.
Before graduating from Harvard, Santayana joined a group called the “Walker Fellowship”. With this group, he went to Germany and spent eighteen months there before returning to the US. After this trip, and completing his years at Harvard, Santayana obtained a Ph.D. and graduated in 1889 (Saatkamp). After he gradua...
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...Standard, S-114; “George Santayana” Poetic). Santayana was also one of the most quoted authors of the 20th century (Flamm).
Santayana was a brilliant philosopher and poet. He had a very interesting and eventful life, but still managed to create amazing works of literature. These works were a great contribution to the literary and poetic worlds and he was a great inspiration to everyone in it.
Works Cited
Flamm, Matthew. “George Santayana”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. n.d. Web. 11 January 2014.
“George Santayana”. New Standard Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. Chicago, IL, 2000. Print.
“George Santayana”. Poetry Foundation. n.d. Web. 17 January 2014.
Saatkamp, Herman. “George Santayana”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 11 February 2002. Web. 17 January 2014.
“Santayana’s Life”. Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis. n.d. Web. 5 February 2014.
"I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity. . . People generally think those memoirs only worthy to be read or remembered which abound in great striking events, those, in short, which in a high degree excite either admiration or pity; all others they consign to contempt or oblivion. It is therefore, I confess, not a little hazardous in a private and obscure individual, and a stranger too, thus to solicit the indulgent attention of the public, especially when I own I offer here the history of neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant. I believe there are few events in my life which have not happened to many; it is true the incidents of it are numerous, and, did I consider myself an European, I might say my sufferings were great; but when I compare my lot with that of most of my countrymen, I regard myself as a particular favorite of heaven, and acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life. If, then, the following narrative does not appear sufficiently interesting to engage general attention, let my motive be some excuse for its publication."
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