Lionel Mordecai Trilling was born in Queens, New York, the son of Fannie (née Cohen), who was from London, and David Trilling, a tailor from Bialystok in Poland. His family was Jewish. In 1921, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School, and, at age 16, entered Columbia University, thus beginning a lifelong association with the university. He joined the Boar's Head Society and wrote for the "Morningside" literary journal. In 1925, he graduated from Columbia College, and, in 1926, earned a Master of Arts degree at the university (his master's essay was entitled "Theodore Edward Hook: his life and work"). He then taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and at Hunter College.