Don Cameron Allen was born on December 5, 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned both his Bachelor's degree and his Doctorate at the University of Illinois, and received his Master's degree from Washington University. He held teaching positions at Purdue University, Washington State College, Duke University and Illinois Wesleyan University before coming to Johns Hopkins University in 1942.

Allen was the author of more than 20 books and 100 articles, most dealing with 16th and 17th century literature. He knew not only Latin, Greek, Hebrew and French, but was familiar with a broad range of Renaissance learning from astrology to scriptural exegesis. His books fell into two major groups, the first dealing with the history of ideas as they bear on literature itself and this group is represented by Harmonious Vision, a study of Milton.

At Johns Hopkins University Allen helped to edit English Literary History, the well known scholarly journal, and was an active teacher, researcher and writer. His study of American Ph.D programs in English Literature, the Allen Report, commissioned in 1968 by the Modern Language Association of America, received wide attention from graduate schools. He held the Sir William Osler Chair of English Literature at Johns Hopkins University until his retirement in June 1972.

Allen received many scholarly awards and honors, among which was his election in 1970 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1961 he was one of 12 professors of literature to be elected to the American Philosophical Society. He also served as Vice President of the Modern Language Association of America. He received honorary degrees from the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins University. Don Cameron Allen died at his home in Baltimore on August 4, 1972.