and Doctor of Philosophy (1909). After receiving his Doctor of Philosophy, he spent a year studying in Dublin, Ireland, then returned to the United States in 1910 to take up a position as an instructor at Harvard. In 1911 he became the head of the English department at Sweet Briar College.
Cross did his undergraduate education at Hampden–Sydney College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1899. He went on to Harvard University to pursue an Master of Arts Following that, he spent his next year at the University of North Carolina, and in 1913 became the chair of the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. His alma mater Hampden–Sydney College awarded him an honorary doctorate of literature in 1927.
He retired in 1945.
He was also member of the Modern Language Association and the American Council of the Irish Texts Society.
