Kenneth Lee Irby
Poet and University of Kansas Professor Kenneth Irby died at 5 a.m. on Thursday, July 30, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He passed peacefully in his sleep, a few hours after close friends and colleagues read to him from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies, the first book of poems he owned, at the age of fourteen.
Irby's work is widely respected by readers and writers of innovative poetry worldwide. He published 20 books and chapbooks during his long and fruitful career. The last of these, The Intent On: Collected Poems, 1962-2006 (North Atlantic Books, 2009) was received warmly, and in 2010 the Poetry Society of America awarded Irby the prestigious Shelley Memorial Award. His body of poetry is quite diverse, but is characterized throughout by a conversational tone, persistent questioning, keen attention to the music of language, and a concern with geography, particularly that of Kansas.
Kenneth Lee Irby was born in Bowie, Texas in 1936, the son of physician Addison Craft Irby and nurse Dora Elizabeth Irby. In 1940, the family moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, where Ken grew up. He attended the University of Kansas and graduated with a BA in History in 1958; in 1960, he received an MA in Far Eastern Studies from Harvard University. He served in the Army from 1960-62, then went on to earn a Master of Library Science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968. Irby taught briefly at Tufts University and Copenhagen University in Denmark, and in 1974 received a Fulbright fellowship. In 1977, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, to care for his elderly mother, and, in 1985, he began teaching at the University of Kansas. He was promoted to the rank of full professor in 2012 and continued teaching until his health no longer permitted.
Irby was a friend and associate of many of the poetic luminaries of his generation, such as Robert Duncan, Edward Dorn, and Robert Creeley. His passing has been met with an outpouring of grief and sympathy from former students, colleagues, and fellow poets. "The first poet I ever laid eyes on!" said poet and critic Ron Silliman, who called Irby "a wonderful guy and still the poet with the best ear I've ever read." Irby's former student, attorney Genna Sue Hibbs, remarked, "He was stunning in his 'American Poets of the 20th Century' class and really opened up [Ezra] Pound and H.D. for me in a way I would not have found on my own. . . . he reminded you that poetry involved engaging all human experience."
Kenneth L. Irby is survived by a brother, James East Irby and his wife Marta Peixoto of Princeton, NJ; nephews Francisco, Daniel, and Thomas; and nieces Elizabeth and Mariana. Memorial services will be announced at a later date; interested parties should e-mail Joseph Harrington for more information, at [email protected].
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Kenneth and I were chosen to take exams when we were high school seniors. We had to travel out of town to take the exams. He won a full scholarship to KU and I won a partial scholarship. He was a very kind young man.
Cherie Southwell
July 31, 2022
Of the people I knew as an undergrad at KU, I had no hesitation in thinking of Ken's faults and shortcomings because they vanished in an eye blink simply from the size of his virtues, strengths, and Heart.
Bill Summers
August 23, 2015
One of the greatest poets this country has been blessed with in the second half of the XXth and first half of the XXIst Centuries. Virtually unknown - as usual - by 99.9% of the population. We hope the U.of Kansas will do everything in its power to remedy this.
Nathaniel & Janet Rodney Tarn
August 23, 2015
I took many classes from Mr. Irby in the 90s. Shakespeare, Pound and Elliot, American Lit II, The Beat Generation and was set to do a directed study of the modernist movement with him, but I left school and I regret that. He honesty changed my perception of most all things and I think about him often. I remember so many amazing and sometimes funny things he said, one being "when you're ready to learn, the teacher will be there." That was the case for me. RIP in Mr. Irby.
Brent Wallis
August 12, 2015
My sincerest condolences to the Irby Family. May the Hearer of Prayer be of comfort to you at this time. (Psalms 83:18)
August 7, 2015
Ken was a big part of my life for a very long time. If he has to be gone, I'm grateful to be able to read his poems in which he and his singular experiences are seamlessly embedded.
Lee Chapman
August 7, 2015
Kenneth was a smart and witty guy who carried his briefcase like Groucho back at FSHS. He was a great chess player. I never saw him after High School Days but I had later read and enjoyed some of his poems. He also waded and fished in Buck Run as a kid.
Don Carlson
August 6, 2015
I was a classmate of Kenneth's in Fort Scott. His father was our doctor. I have thought of Kenneth and wondered where he was. He had a full ride scholarship to KU. I had a residence hall scholarship. This past June I was at a reunion at my scholarship hall. I wish I had know Kenneth was in Lawrence. Perhaps we could have met
and talked. I pray that Kenneth is
enjoying his journey now. Cherie
Cherie Southwell (Miller)
August 6, 2015
Michael Brodhead
August 6, 2015
1957+ A significant "figura", a constant reminder of integrity
Alan Kimball
August 6, 2015
Ken will be hard missed by friends in Lawrence and far wide. Our friendship lasted near 50 years and we shared so many mutual friends as well. He spread his love for and knowledge of Kansas through his writing. A great loss.
Jim McCrary
August 6, 2015
My sympathy to the family of Kenneth. He was a respected classmate at Fort Scott High School, class of 1954.
Sara Marble Emery
August 6, 2015
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