Early Childhood
Dr. Seuss was born Theodor ("Ted") Seuss Geissel on March 2, 1904, in the town of Springfield, Massachusetts. Son to Theodor Robert and Henrietta Seuss Geisel, he was a lovely and delightful only child. His father and grandfather worked as brewmasters at the family brewery until prohibition pushed the Geisel family into poverty. But Ted prevailed through his less than lavish lifestyle, coupled with the discrimination he received as a German-American, to become the greatest author of children's literature whom we so fondly refer to as Dr. Seuss. So much of Ted's fame and brilliance can be attributed to his happy childhood, with his strict but loving parents, who helped to encourage his imagination and shape his developing mind. (Seussville 2003). Ted's doodling began at an early age, as early as he could read. He attended a single art class, in which the teacher attempted to impede his artistic ideas. Ted left the classroom and never returned for any art lessons, ever. Obviously, Ted needed only his own imagination and the love of his parents (especially his father 'Big Ted') to produce the characteristic art we know so well (MacDonald 1988).
Ted attended Dartmouth after graduating high school, the class of 1925. He was described by those who knew him in those years, as a typical mischievious college student. Friends of Ted were quoted as saying "Ted grew to respect the academic discipline he discovered at Dartmouth - not enough to pursue it, but to appreciate those who did" (Morgan 1995). He worked hard to achieve his goal of Editor in Chief of the school's humour magazine, Jack-O-Lantern. After throwing a party that Dartmouth did not approve of, Ted was removed from his position. It is this event that created the pseudonym 'Seuss' which was used so that Ted could continue to write for the magazine (Seussville 2003).
Ted attended Oxford after graduation, but only with the assistance of his father. Ted had told his father that he had received a fellowship at Oxford, when he had actually been denied. Ted Senior, having too much family pride, could not bare to admit to his friends that his son had in fact been rejected and sent Ted to Oxford anyway. Although Ted attended Oxford to become a professor, doodles filling his notebooks show his true intentions. The boredom of a proper English education was impossible for Ted to overcome. Constant memorization of 'trivial' concepts and the suppression of his imagination finally caused Ted to leave Oxford, to travel abroad and pursue his artistic interests (MacDonald 1988).