Ennis Rees
Ennis Samuel Rees, Jr. was born on March 17, 1925 in Newport, Virginia. He received his A.B. from the College of William and Mary in 1946. The same year, he married Marion Ensor Lott. Also in 1946, near the end of World War II, Rees served his country in the U.S. Army. By 1948, he received his M.A. and in 1951 his Ph.D. in comparative literature, both from Harvard. From 1949 until 1952, Rees was an English instructor at Duke University, and he taught at Princeton from 1952 until 1954. For the next thirty-four years, Rees served as a professor of English at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he raised his three children and retired in 1988.
Rees wrote poetry, translations, literary criticism, books about teaching poetry, and many popular books for children. In 1984, during the administration of Governor Dick Riley, Rees became South Carolina's third poet laureate. The late James Dickey, fellow poet, professor, and SC Academy of Authors inductee, regarded Rees's translations as among the finest of our times and characterized his poems as showing "both passion and wit, combined with an inventive and resourceful technique. His range is broad and his penetration is deep." Rees died in Columbia, SC in March 2009.
Rees wrote poetry, translations, literary criticism, books about teaching poetry, and many popular books for children. In 1984, during the administration of Governor Dick Riley, Rees became South Carolina's third poet laureate. The late James Dickey, fellow poet, professor, and SC Academy of Authors inductee, regarded Rees's translations as among the finest of our times and characterized his poems as showing "both passion and wit, combined with an inventive and resourceful technique. His range is broad and his penetration is deep." Rees died in Columbia, SC in March 2009.
