Beverly White Taylor

Freed from the ravages of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurodegenerative disease, Beverly White Taylor was borne into glory at daybreak on August 27, 2026.   In the heights of heaven, she is surely not only embracing her mother, father, and brother Michael, but also shaking hands with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the focus of her recent earthly academic work.

Born in Grenada, Mississippi to Bernice and Noble Taylor, Beverly spent her youth moving between military bases as her father’s army career advanced. She had vivid memories of living in Guam and in post-war Germany in the 1950’s. She graduated from Columbus High in Columbus, GA, then earned a BA from Ole Miss and an MA and PhD in English from Duke University. Her forty-five year career as a professor of English literature was spent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For eight years she was chair of the Department of English and Comparative literature, the first woman to hold the position. She loved teaching and never tired of introducing students to luminaries such as Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, and the Brownings. One of her most popular courses was titled “Victorian Afterlife” in which students read novels such as Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Dickens’ Great Expectations paired with 20th and 21st century novels based on them. Hours before her death, a former graduate student wrote an email reminiscing that Beverly had modeled for her students “a way to find the small and large joys in this work and in this world.”  In a recent New York Times opinion piece about education, Frank Bruni, once a student of Beverly’s, proclaimed the benefits students receive from time spent in classes such as hers:  In an English class, they are allowed to “swim in a borderless sea of thoughts beautifully expressed, ideas precisely articulated, words put into the service of emotions.” Reading great literature “offers the clearest possible insight into the human psyche and soul.”  Beverly’s deep dive into these eternal truths most certainly helped her manage her increasing infirmity with amazing grace.

In addition to teaching at least two generations of students, Beverly was a dedicated researcher and scholar.  She published books on literature from medieval Arthurian legends to nineteenth century English poets, most notably Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose poetry she was involved in editing.  As part of an international group of scholars unearthing the juvenilia of several women writers, she had a wide international coterie of friends, from Canada to Australia.  Unfortunately, the progression of her disease has prevented the publication of her final book project, a critical study of EBB.  

In her personal life, she made a splash with her distinctive fashion style.  She also excelled at decorating and entertaining and could make a house feel like a home. In all, she impacted many, many lives in positive ways and will be deeply missed. She is survived by her dear friends Edmund Reiss and Margaret O’Shaughnessey, her beloved sister Kathryn (“Kibby”) Taylor, and sister-in-law Laura Taylor.

A memorial service for Beverly will be held at her Durham home in October. In lieu of flowers,contributions can be made to the Beverly Taylor Endowment Fund at the Armstrong Browning Library in Waco, Texas. This fund will support scholars who wish to access the library’s impressive resources on Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Donations may be made through this link:

https://bbis.baylor.edu/give?id=49837&f=476EABR&scode=27_MT_BTAYLOR