Richard Benson Sewall (11 February 1908 – 16 April 2003) was a professor of English at Yale University, and author of the influential works The Life of Emily Dickinson and The Vision of Tragedy.
[3][a] He was popular with both the students he taught and those he dealt with in his various administrative roles, which included stints as a member of the Committee on Manners and Morals and as first master of Ezra Stiles College.
During the Vietnam Era he supported the activities of peace activists on campus, making William Sloane Coffin and Allard Lowenstein fellows of Ezra Stiles College.
One of Yale's awards named for him, the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize, is presented each year to the professor who "has given the most time, energy and effective effort" to educating undergraduates.
[5] It dispelled many myths about the poet, especially her depiction as the "Nun of Amherst," a neurotic lovelorn woman too fragile for the world who turned to poetry as solace for an unhappy life.