Born in Stuart, VA, Martin Staples Shockley received his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond, MA from Duke University and his doctorate in English from the University of North Carolina. He taught for six years at the University of Oklahoma, where he organized a doctoral program in American Literature. He also taught at Carleton College in Northfield, MN and later was chairman of the English department at Evansville College in Indiana. He resigned that position when he felt a colleague's academic freedom was violated. In 1950, he joined the faculty at the University of North Texas in Denton.

He was an advocate and supporter of American literature, especially Texas and Southwestern writing. He served as president of the Poetry Society of Texas, the Texas Folklore Society, the Texas American Studies Association and the Texas Conference of College Teachers of English. From 1964-1972, Dr. Shockley was secretary-treasurer of the Texas Institute of Letters, and chairman of both the Texas and the Southwest Conferences of the American Association of University Professors. In 1963, he was Fulbright Professor of English Literature at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Known for his exhaustive research, wry wit, and polished style, he published two widely used textbooks, as well as a stream of poetry, fiction, essays, and scholarly articles. His last three books were Southwest Writers (1967), The Richmond Stage: 1784-1812 (1977), and Last Roundup (1994).