Sentence:  The late R. G. Collingwood , a philosopher whose work has proved helpful to many <WSD>students</WSD> of literature , once wrote `` We are all , though many of us are snobbish enough to wish to deny it , in far closer sympathy with the art of the music-hall and picture-palace than with Chaucer and Cimabue , or even Shakespeare and Titian . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines