William Alfred

William Alfred (August 16, 1922 – May 20, 1999) was an American playwright, poet, and professor of English literature at Harvard University.

Biography Alfred was born into an Irish family in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a telephone operator. He graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School in 1940. While in the army, he was taught Bulgarian at a language school and then stationed in the South Pacific, where he wrote poems for American Poet.

Alfred's plays were heavily inspired by his Irish American roots. The most influenced plays include Hogans Goat, Cry For Us All, and The Curse of an Aching Heart.

He began teaching at Harvard the same year he received his doctorate and was appointed full professor in 1963. They maintained a close relationship and remained lifelong friends. and Robert Lowell.