CONWAY, Ark. (January 5, 2015) – Retired Hendrix English professor, trustee and alumnus Dr. Charles Chappell remembers poet Miller Williams, who died on January 1, as “a great American poet, academic publisher, teacher, and public citizen.”
A member of the Hendrix College Class of 1951 (though he did not graduate from Hendrix), Williams received an honorary doctorate from Hendrix in 1995 and was the inaugural Robert and Lillian Drake Endowed Lectureship series guest in 2004. In 1997, he became the fourth author, behind
Robert Frost, James Dickey and Maya Angelou, to compose a poem and read it at a Presidential inauguration. He is the founding editor of the New Orleans
Review and the founding director of the University of Arkansas Press. Williams taught at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for more than 30 years. Read his New York Times obituary
here.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of Miller Williams,” said Chappell. “One of Miller's cousins, Greg Williams, shared rooms in Martin Hall with Simon Bookout and me during our senior years at Hendrix. We three are members of the class of 1964.”
“During Miller's visit to campus when Hendrix awarded Miller an honorary doctorate for his meritorious achievements in literature, education, and academic publishing, at the event's luncheon Greg spoke movingly of his love for Miller and his pride in Miller's often unsung volunteer efforts
to improve the lives of disadvantaged people,” Chappell said. “Dating back at least as far as Miller's father, a Methodist pastor in Arkansas, and Miller's mother, the Williams family (along with its Webb relatives) has long devoted tireless work in attempts to eliminate social and political discrimination
against racial minorities and women.”
“On three occasions (twice under the sponsorship of the Murphy Programs) Miller came to Hendrix in order to present public readings of his poetry and to interact with students in classes and in poetry workshops,” he said. “Numerous Hendrix alumni have vivid memories of hearing Miller recite
his own poetry on stage and share witty anecdotes about his experiences as a longtime traveling artist to campuses throughout the U. S. A. and abroad. Our graduates also remember Miller's visits to classes in my courses in modern American poetry and in the literature of the American South, during which
Miller would respond generously to questions about his own poems that continue to be printed in various textbooks. During poetry workshops Miller presented many illuminating comments about our students' poems that he had read closely before coming to campus,
thus providing our undergraduate budding poets with solid, common-sense advice about how to improve the structures, figurative language , and other modes of expression of their embryonic verses.”
Chappell also recommended a few readings by Miller:
- "Ruby Tells All"
- "The Aging Actress Sees Herself A Starlet on the Late Show"
- "The Curator"
- "Why God Permits Evil: for Answers to This Question of Interest to Many Write Bible Answers Dept. E-7"
- "The Caterpillar"
- "A Poem for Emily"
- "I Go Out of the House for the First Time"
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education. This year, Hendrix was named the country’s #1 “Up and Coming” liberal arts college and #8 in the nation for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” by U.S.
News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the 2015 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Forbesmagazine's list of America's Top Colleges, the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, and the latest edition of Colleges That Change
Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit
www.hendrix.edu.