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Robert Kaske (1921–1989) was an American professor of medieval literature who founded the medieval studies program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He published lengthy interpretations of Beowulf and of poems and passages by Dante and Chaucer. Kaske particularly enjoyed solving difficult, puzzling passages in works such as Pearl, Piers Plowman, the Divine Comedy, "The Husband's Message" and "The Descent into Hell". In 1975 he was appointed chief editor of the journal Traditio. Over the course of his career he collected what one former student termed "most of the awards and honors possible for a medieval scholar", including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. In 1988 Kaske published Medieval Christian Literary Imagery: A Guide to Interpretation, which colleagues called a "magisterial work". (Full article...)