Nathaniel H. Brown, a professor of English at Mary Washington for more than 30 years, died Nov. 2, 2012, in New Mexico. He was 83.
He was a scholar of Romantic poets, with a particular interest in Percy Bysshe Shelley. Harvard University published his Sexuality and Feminism in Shelley in 1979. Brown was an avid tennis player during his Fredericksburg years. He also was a jazz enthusiast.
He moved to Santa Fe County, N.M., in 2007 to live with son Whitney Brown, daughter-in-law Beth Brown, and granddaughter Nola Grace Brown. Other survivors include daughter Curry Brown of Fieldale, Va., son Mackenzie Gates Brown of Austin, Texas, two brothers, and a sister.
I was greatly saddened to read about the death of Dr. Brown, whose 19th century English poetry class I took during 1962-1963. He inspired in me a great love of English poetry, particularly that of Wordsworth. He and his charming young wife, Derval, and their baby were a most beautiful young family at the time I knew them in the early ’60’s. it seems impossible to think that two such shining young stars are gone.