William Riley Parker (August 7, 1906 – October 28, 1968) was an American scholar noted for his works on John Milton.
at Oxford University, where he analysed the influence of Greek tragedy on John Milton's Samson Agonistes.
thesis was published as Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes.
In 1938 Clarendon Press commissioned Parker to write a biography of John Milton, which was published in two volumes in 1968.
[1] In 1946 Parker became secretary of the Modern Language Association and for ten years he edited its journal.