Timothy Dwight IV (1752 - 1817)

Timothy Dwight IV

Timothy Dwight IV was an American clergyman, teacher, author, and satirical poet.

Dwight was the eldest son of farmer and merchant Timothy Dwight III. He graduated from Yale University, was a schoolmaster, a Massachusetts state legislator, and a chaplain in the Continental Army. In 1783 he opened a successful school in Greenfield Hill, Connecticut, where he became pastor of the Congregational Church.

In Connecticut, Dwight began writing poetry, such as Greenfield Hill (1794), and epics, including The Conquest of Canaan (1785), an allegory of the conquest of Connecticut from the British. His works are characterized by moralizing and moralizing. Dwight was also the author of political satire, as well as a verse satire on Voltaire, "The Triumph of Infidelity." He and his brother Theodore were members of a group of writers known as the Hartford Witters, centered around Yale University.

From 1795 to 1817. Dwight served as president of Yale University and was extremely influential in modernizing the curriculum. He was an active and eloquent professor of theology; his sermons were published in Theology; Explanation and Defense, 5 volumes (1818-19).

Dwight was also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an early member of the American Antiquarian Society.