George Santayana (1863-1952) was born in Spain as Jorge Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás; American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. His mother had promised her first husband, an American, that their children would be raised in the U.S., and took them there in 1869. Jose (George) remained in Spain with his father, her second husband, until 1872, when they both joined the rest of the family in Boston, but his father soon returned to Spain, and his son did not see him again until he was at Harvard, and started going to Spain for his summer vacations. After graduating from Harvard, he studied for two years in Berlin, then returned to Harvard to write his dissertation on the philosopher Herman Lotze. He became a professor in Harvard’s philosophy department (1889-1912), and his students included T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Gertrude Stein, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Santayana never married. In 1912, he resigned from Harvard to spend the rest of his life in Europe, living on his savings and a legacy from his mother. After 1920, he began spending winters in Rome, and later lived there year-round until his death. He wrote 19 books, and had a considerable correspondence. His 1935 novel, The Last Puritan, was an unexpected best-seller, and made him financially comfortable. He then came to the financial aid of a number of writers, including Bertrand Russell, even though they were in fundamental disagreement both philosophically and politically. Santayana considered himself an “aesthetic Catholic” and spent the last decade of his life in a Roman residence under the care of Catholic nuns. He died in 1952 at the age of 88 in Rome.

To read Santayana’s poem “The Poet’s Testament” click:

Continue reading →