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John Nelson Morris, Ph.D., a distinguished poet and professor emeritus of English in Arts and Sciences, died of pancreatic cancer Nov. 25, 1997, at his home in Pittsboro, N.C. He was 66.
Morris taught poetry and 18th-century British literature for nearly 30 years in the Department of English. He joined the department in 1967 as an associate professor and was made full professor in 1971. He retired in 1995.
Morris was the author of four books of poetry: "A Schedule of Benefits," "The Glass Houses," "The Life Beside This One" and "Green Business." His work was published in such magazines as Poetry, The New Yorker and The New Republic, and in 1978 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1979 he won the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
"His work was understated and ironic," said Dan Shea, professor and chair of English. "He always had a double sense of things, whether writing about his children, his dog or life and death."
Born in Oxford, England, Morris spent part of his childhood on his grandfather's peach farm in Eagle Springs, N.C. He attended Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, Va., and in 1953 received a bachelor's degree in English from Hamilton College. After two years as a Marine during the Korean War, Morris attended graduate school at Columbia University, earning a doctorate in 1964. He taught at the University of Delaware and at Columbia University before coming to Washington University.
Morris is survived by his wife, Anne Morris; three children, Julia Morris of New York, John George Morris of Nashville, Tenn., and Richard Maurice Morris of Denver; and two sisters.
Plans for a campus memorial service are pending. A memorial service was held Saturday, Nov. 29, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Southern Pines, N.C. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Chatham County, P.O. Box 1077, Pittsboro, N.C., 27312.
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