|
William Francis Jackson Knight (1895–1964) was an English classical scholar. Knight "loved Virgil, and he communicates his love even to those who cannot agree with his method; he must have done more than many greater scholars have done towards making Virgil's poetry (and with it the Latin language) live and move for all kinds of readers. He seems, in his Virgilianism, always to have been stretching out his hands in longing for some further shore; he makes us conscious that such a shore exists, even though we may not travel in his company" (G.R. Austin).〔R.G. Austin, "Mystic Guide to Virgil" in ''The Classical Review'' (New Series), (vol. 17, no. 2) (June 1967), pp. 161–162.〕 ==Early life== W.F. Jackson Knight ("Jack/Jackson/J.K.") was born in Sutton in Surrey on 20 October 1895, the son of George Knight and his wife, Caroline Louisa Jackson.〔Birth registered in Epsom Registration District in the last quarter of 1895. George Wilson Knight, ''Jackson Knight: a biography'' (1975), ''passim''.〕 He was educated at Kingswood House, a preparatory school in Epsom, as a day boy, before going on to Dulwich College. He was elected to one of two Open Classical Scholarships at Hertford College, Oxford in December 1913. Great Britain having entered the First World War in August 1914, Knight volunteered for full-time military service and was attested in the Royal Engineers at Kingston-on-Thames on 1 November 1915. He was posted to the Motorcyclist Company, Signal Depot, Royal Engineers at Dunstable, trained, and posted to the British Expeditionary Force in France, where he landed on 21 December 1915. He served on operations in France and Flanders as a Motorcyclist Corporal, mustered as despatch rider, until he returned to England to undergo officer training in 1917. He was discharged from the Army to take up a temporary commission on 21 August 1917.〔UK National Archives, War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ (Microfilm Copies).〕 Commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, on 22 August 1917, he returned to France, where he continued to serve on operations until wounded in action in the summer of 1918, arranging signals equipment in the front line on the Somme. He was evacuated to England for treatment in August 1918, being admitted to Epsom Hospital. “The wounds were bad. ‘Dressings ripped off behind my knee’ 18’ (i.e. 1918), he wrote (1951), ‘the orderly fainted, ''visu exsanguis''!—gave me bad moments.’ Amputation was at first expected … but the leg was saved. There was considerable suffering with shell-shock.”〔George Wilson Knight, ''op. cit''., p. 56.〕 Knight survived the war and was eventually demobilised and released from the army, retaining the rank of Lieutenant, in January 1920. Thereafter he “always carried a stick, having been very seriously wounded … . More often than not he carried it under his arm, and this often caused it to come in contact with passers-by.” 〔George Wilson Knight, ''op. cit''., p. 5.〕 Despite his keen appetite for soldiering, Knight had an unusual perspective on the war, “It was such a frightfully dressy affair … Not only the generals, but their ADC’s and all the junior staff officers wore gorget patches on their lapels.”〔George Wilson Knight, ''op. cit''., p. 368.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「W. F. Jackson Knight」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|