Robert Avrett (1901-1975)

Né William Robert Avrett

Teacher, Poet, Author, Translator, Reader

Born December 1, 1901, Milam County, Texas

Died November 23, 1975, Milam County, Texas

William Robert Avrett, called "Billie" as a child and Robert as an adult, was born on December 1, 1901, in Milam County, Texas. The 1928 yearbook for the University of Texas in Austin gave his hometown as Cameron. Avrett graduated that year, 1928, with a master's degree and a thesis called "Philosophical and Mystical Elements in the Poetry of Enrique Gonzalez Martinez." On the strength of his degree and his knowledge of the Spanish language, Avrett taught at the College of Mines and Metallurgy in El Paso, Texas (now the University of Texas at El Paso or UTEP), and the Argentine-North American Cultural Institute in Buenos Aires. He spent the greater part of his career at the University of Tennessee, from 1947 until his retirement. Avrett also studied under a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

An author of non-fiction, poetry, and even a children's book, Avrett contributed to magazines and journals as varied as Kaleidograph, Hispania, Holland's, Wings, Nature Magazine, Harper's Magazine, All-Story Love Stories, The Romantic Review, Woman's World, The Acolyte, and of course Weird Tales. He also wrote a brief biography of New Hampshire poet laureate Paul Scott Mowrer (1887-1971) and was the recipient of the Henry H. Bellaman Foundation award in 1960. Averett's books include:

• Outline Spanish Review Grammar (non-fiction, 1940)
• The Dream Comes First (verse, 1949)
• Spanish in Review (non-fiction, 1959)
• Against the Dark (verse, 1961)
• The Timid Pup (children's book, 1964)

William Robert Avrett died on November 23, 1975, in Milam County, Texas.

Robert Avrett's Poems in Weird Tales

"On Hangman's Hill" (May 1935)

"The Devil's Swamp" (Mar. 1936)

Further Reading

I'm afraid I don't know of any further reading on Robert Avrett.

"Witches' Sabbath," a poem by Robert Avrett from The Acolyte #10.

And "Grecian Rhapsody" from The Acolyte #11. 

In 1964, Avrett published a children's book, The Timid Pup, illustrated by Haris Petie.

Thirty-six years before, as a master's student at the University of Texas, he had written a thesis whose title was a scholarly mouthful. I am reminded of a quote by Pablo Picasso: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

Thanks to Randal A. Everts for further information.
Text and captions copyright 2012 Terence E. Hanley