Ennis Rees
{{short description|American poet}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Ennis Rees
| image = Ennis Rees.jpg
| caption =
| alt =
| birth_name = Ennis Samuel Rees, Jr.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|3|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Newport News, Virginia
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|3|24|1925|3|17|mf=y}}
| death_place = Columbia, South Carolina
| occupation = Poet, professor
| language =
| alma_mater = {{no wrap|A.B., College of William & Mary,}}
{{no wrap|M.A., Ph.D. Harvard University}}
| genre =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| awards = South Carolina Poet Laureate
| spouse = Marion (Lott) Rees
| children = 3
}}
Ennis Samuel Rees, Jr. (March 17, 1925 – March 24, 2009) was an American poet and professor. He was named by Governor Richard Wilson Riley as the third South Carolina Poet Laureate from 1984 to 1985.
Biography
=Early life and education=
Rees was born in Newport News, Virginia, on March 17, 1925.{{cite web|title=Ennis Rees |url=http://scliterarymap.libsci.sc.edu/authors/ennis-rees/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018121105/http://scliterarymap.libsci.sc.edu/authors/ennis-rees/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 18, 2015 |publisher=University of South Carolina |accessdate=September 7, 2015 }} His parents were Ennis Samuel, Sr., and Dorothy Drumwright Rees.1940 U. S. Census; Census Place: Newport News, Newport News City, Virginia; Roll: T627_4310; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 113-6 In high school, he participated in track and lettered in football, focusing more on athletics than academics. He was also student body vice president and his senior class vice president as well.{{cite news|title=Ennis Rees About Faces From Football To "PBK"|url=https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/318/fh19460306.pdf?sequence=2|accessdate=December 28, 2012|newspaper=The Flat Hat|date=March 6, 1946|format=PDF}}
He graduated from the College of William & Mary with an A.B. degree in 1946 where he was Phi Beta Kappa and received the Botetourt Medal.{{cite web|url=https://scrc-kb.libraries.wm.edu/botetourt-medal|title=Botetourt Medal|work=Special Collections Research Center Knowledgebase|publisher=Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William & Mary|location=Williamsburg, VA|access-date=February 11, 2025}} He then went on to obtain both his M.A., in 1948, and Ph.D., in 1951, from Harvard University.
=Career=
After graduating from Harvard with his M.A. degree, Rees became an English instructor at Duke University in 1949 while still pursuing his Ph.D. from Harvard. He remained at Duke until 1952 when he became an instructor at Princeton University from 1952 to 1954. He then began a long career at the University of South Carolina in 1954, eventually becoming a full professor in 1963. He remained a professor at the university until his retirement in 1988.
=Poet laureateship=
Rees was named to be South Carolina's third poet laureate by Governor Dick Riley in 1984. Originally a life-time appointment, Riley changed the position some during his governorship and appointed Freeman to only a one-year term of office.{{cite news|title=South Carolina's New Poet Laureate is Ennis Rees|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dTwsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cM4EAAAAIBAJ&dq=ennis%20rees&pg=2487%2C6914167|accessdate=December 27, 2012|newspaper=The Spartanburg Herald-Journal|date=July 26, 1984|agency=AP}}
=Personal life=
Rees was married to the former Marion Lott. They had three children.{{cite news|last=Holleman|first=Joey|title=Ennis Rees: USC professor, state poet dies|url=http://www.thestate.com/local/story/727396.html|accessdate=December 27, 2012|newspaper=The State|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531130933/http://www.thestate.com/local/story/727396.html|archivedate=May 31, 2009}}
Awards and honors
- South Carolina Poet Laureate – 1984
- South Carolina Academy of Authors honoree – 1999{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Tom|title=Academy of Authors honoree has Sumter ties|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q6EiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=laoFAAAAIBAJ&dq=ennis-rees&pg=1237%2C470338|accessdate=December 27, 2012|newspaper=The Item|date=March 3, 1999}}
Works
In addition to his published books, some of Ennis' work has appeared in Journal of English, The Southern Review, The New Republic, and Germanic Philology.
=Non-fiction=
- The Tragedies of George Chapman: Renaissance Ethics in Action, Harvard University Press, 1954; Octagon Books, 1979, {{ISBN|9780374967673}}
=Poetry=
- Selected Poems University of South Carolina Press, 1973, {{ISBN|9780872492950}}
==Children's verse==
- The Song of Paul Bunyan and Tony Beaver (1964)
- Riddles, Riddles Everywhere (Abelard-Schuman, 1964)
- Pun Fun (Abelard-Schuman, 1965)
- Fables from Aesop (Oxford University Press, 1966)
- Windwagon Smith (1966)
- Tiny Tall Tales (1967)
- Teeny Tiny Duck and the Pretty Money (Prentice-Hall, 1967)
- Brer Rabbit and His Tricks (Young Scott Books, 1967)
- The Little Greek Alphabet Book (Prentice-Hall, 1968)
- More of Brer Rabbit's Tricks (1968)
- Gillygaloos and Gollywhoppers (1969)
- Potato Talk (1969)
- Fast Freddie Frog and other tongue-twister rhymes (Caroline House distributed by St. Martin's Press, 1993)
==Translations==
- Homer's The Odyssey (Random House, 1960)
- Homer's The Iliad (Random House, 1963)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{SC Poets Laureate}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Ennis}}
Category:Poets laureate of South Carolina
Category:College of William & Mary alumni
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:People from Newport News, Virginia
Category:Writers from Columbia, South Carolina
Category:University of South Carolina faculty
Category:Poets from South Carolina
Category:20th-century American poets