William A. Ringler, English Scholar, Dies

William A. Ringler, a literary scholar whose 1962 study of “The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney” was acclaimed as among the most definitive works ever done on that 16th-Century Renaissance poet and courtier, has died. He was 74 and died Jan. 1 at his Pasadena home.

Ringler, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Chicago, most recently had been a senior research associate at the Huntington Library in San Marino. He also had taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at Princeton.

At his death he was working on a book on English verse in print from 1475 to 1558 and English manuscript verse from the same period. Survivors include his wife, Evelyn, two daughters, a son and one grandchild.