Raymond Macdonald Alden (1873-1924) was an American scholar and educator, born in New Hartford, N. Y. He studied at Rollins College, Fla., and at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1894. In 1894-95 he was instructor in English at Columbian (now George Washington) University; in 1896-97 assistant in English at Harvard; and in 1898-99 senior fellow in English at the University of Pennsylvania. He was chosen to fill the position of assistant professor of English literature and rhetoric at Leland Stanford, Jr., University in 1899, then became associate professor there in 1909. He accepted the chair of English at the University of Illinois in 1911. He edited several plays of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists and in 1910 an edition of Thoreau's Walden. Alden also became known as a contributor to educational journals and short stories to magazines. In 1913 he edited an edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint. His writings include: The Art of Debate (1900), Consolation: An Ode (1903) and Why the Chimes Rang (1906).