Remembering Michael Dennis Browne

Among the many anecdotes and memories surfacing about Professor Emeritus Michael Dennis Browne since his death this spring, the common link is the experience of hearing him share poetry. “He had so many poems set to memory,” says Regents Professor Julie Schumacher, “and he recited them, charmingly, in his British accent, in classes large and small.” 

“Michael had a beautiful voice, which was evident not only when he sang but also when he read poetry aloud,” recalls Regents Professor Emerita Madelon Sprengnether. “I think that he always heard poetry calling to him and singing in his head.”

Professor Browne passed away peacefully March 29 in Edina at age 85, surrounded by family. The winner of two Minnesota Book Awards, Browne published 15 books, including numerous poetry collections, a children’s picture book, and a book of essays on poetry. His honors included fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation. Browne was also an internationally known librettist who collaborated on compositions sung at the State Funerals of three US presidents. One of his last publications was a collection of words he wrote for music, Build Me a Boat.

“I’m not surprised he had such a success as a librettist,” Regents Professor Emerita Patricia Hampl told the Pioneer Press. “He had a strong lyric sensibility, such a sense of language and musicality.”

Born in Surrey, England, Browne grew up singing in choirs. His businessman father was an organist, choirmaster, and pianist, his mother a singer. He began collaborating with composers as a librettist while a student teacher at Oxford University. An MA graduate of the University of Iowa, he joined the English faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1971 and taught here for 39 years. He was the first writer hired by the department solely to teach creative writing, a successful initiative that, in large part due to Browne’s warm personality and dedication to students, eventually led to further hires such as Hampl, the establishment of a graduate degree in creative writing, and a top ten ranked MFA in Creative Writing program. He also helped build a strong literary community beyond campus, nurturing connections between Twin Cities writers, veteran and aspiring. 

Commitment to students

“For many years, Michael was critical to keeping creative writing alive at the University of Minnesota,” says Professor and former Chair Andrew Elfenbein. “I remember his absolute dedication to his students.”

To foster a community spirit for Creative Writing graduate students, the two-time Director of Creative Writing provided his Northwoods cabin for a fall retreat every year for two decades. “He was so ‘there’ for the students,” Hampl told the Pioneer Press. “When you teach that long it’s easy to do it by rote. He never fell into that, always being available to students and always alive to poetry.”

Browne garnered widespread recognition for that commitment, receiving the top honor for undergraduate teaching at the U, the Morse-Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education, along with the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Teacher Award and the College of Continuing Education Distinguished Teacher Award. In 2007, the department created the Michael Dennis Browne Fellowship in Creative Writing to honor his teaching service.

Former student Zachary Cody Carlsen won a CLA prize for best honors thesis with Browne as his advisor. According to Carlsen, “He saw me before I did. His gifts of a keen observant eye and a modest curiosity, which are so present in his poetry, are also his most profound pedagogical strengths.”

When asked about his love for teaching in a 2007 interview, Browne began talking about family. “I think I have a paradigm there of a collectivity of people who are going to have a good time together.” He paused. “To be simplistic about it, I like getting people together.”

A gracious colleague

Browne brought a unique sense of style to the English department. “He was a dramatic figure on campus in the early years,” says Sprengnether. “He wore a sweeping cape in winter and strode across campus accompanied by his large white dog, appropriately named Snow Dog. Wherever Michael went, there was Snow Dog too.”

In 1985-1986, the establishment of the Edelstein-Keller Endowment in Creative Writing within the Department of English transformed the small MA program, making possible visiting writer residencies and a growing slate of creative writing classes for graduate and undergraduate students. Browne served as Creative Writing Program director in the early 1990s as new faculty hires allowed for further expansion. He was also part of the faculty cohort who successfully advocated for replacing the MA in Creative Writing with the more prestigious MFA, beginning in 1996. 

“He sympathized with all parties during disagreements,” remembers Schumacher, “and was interested in his colleagues as people rather than as disciplines or genres or publications.”

Echoes Professor Emerita Maria Damon, “Michael was extraordinarily warm and generous, unfailingly kind at every opportunity.”

Collaboration and community

From the beginning of his time at the University, Professor Browne embraced Midwest literary traditions and Twin Cities artists and writers. He quickly got involved in the local poetry scene, befriending luminary Robert Bly and hosting gatherings of local writers at his home with spouse Lisa McLean. In 1974, Browne was one of a group including Hampl and BA alum Jim Moore who founded an organization for poetry readings and workshops with Dinkytown bookstore owner Marly Rusoff: “the Loft” is now the celebrated Loft Literary Center. 

Also in the early 1970s, the librettist went looking for a musical partner and was directed to Stephen Paulus, then a PhD student in music.  “We were willing to be flexible and learn from each other,” Browne recalled in an interview upon his retirement. “We knew we could do good stuff together. Though we could never have anticipated a piece like ‘Pilgrim’s Hymn,’ for instance: that piece has changed our lives.” Part of the church opera The Three Hermits, the choral work was performed at the State Funerals of both Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. Another work with Paulus, “The Road Home,” was featured as the first music of the service at President Jimmy Carter’s State Funeral in 2025. 

Professor Emerita Toni McNaron remembers the premiere of their post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn, at the Basilica of St. Mary, played by the Minneapolis Orchestra: “Critics from New York came and wrote glowing reviews.” The piece was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in music. Browne also collaborated with numerous other composers, including Craig Hella Johnson, Carolyn Jennings, Juliana Hall, and John Foley S.J. “I like to work!” Browne enthused in that 2007 interview. 

Professor Andrew Scheil provides one last recitation story. Years ago, English faculty gathered to celebrate two-time English Chair Kent Bales on his retirement. Recalls Scheil: “Michael Dennis Browne stood up among the lunch tables. He said (I'm paraphrasing), ‘Although Kent’s research specialty was not in poetry, I hope he will not mind, as a tribute to him, a poem here in his honor.’ In his soothing and eloquent British voice, he then delivered, with no script before him, Marge Piercy’s ‘To be of use.’ I suspect that the sentiment of the poem applies as well to Michael now as it did to Kent 18 years ago:

"'The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight….'"

Professor Browne is survived by wife Lisa McLean, children Mary, Nellie, and Peter, five grandchildren, and his brother Peter Browne. The Department of English offers deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. 

Support the Michael Dennis Browne Fellowship in Creative Writing.