Died December 17, 1975
Wimsatt was born in Washington D.C., attended Georgetown University and, later, Yale University, where he received his PhD. In 1939, Wimsatt joined the English Department at Yale, where he taught until his death in 1975. In his lifetime, Wimsatt became known for his studies of eighteenth-century literature (Leitch et al. 1372). He wrote many works of literary theory and criticism such as The Prose Style of Samuel Johnson (1941) and Philosophic Words: A Study of Style and Meaning in the "Rambler" and Dictionary of Samuel Johnson (1948; Leitch et al. 1372). His major works include Verbal Icon: Studies in the Meaning of Poetry (1954); Hateful Contraries (1965) and Literary Criticism: A Short History (1957, with Cleanth Brooks). Wimsatt was considered crucial to New Criticism (particularly New Formalist Criticism; 1372).
This short biography above is copied from the entry on Wimsatt on Wikipedia.
Wimsatt co-edited, with Pottle, the sixth volume in the Yale trade edition series of Boswell's journals, Boswell for the Defence 1769-1774.