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Paul Philemon Kies was born at Highland, Illinois, in 1891. In 1915 he received a Master of Arts degree in German from the University of Nebraska and a degree in music from Lincoln Musical College. After teaching high school at Goodland, Kansas, Kies accepted a pastorate in Illinois for two years. He graduated from the Chicago Musical College in 1920, and taught English at Penn College in Iowa until 1924. He then accepted a teaching position at the State College of Washington in Pullman, Washington. In 1928 he received a doctorate in English from the University of Chicago. Kies worked at the State College of Washington until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1956. He died at Pullman in 1971.