James Poag, a professor emeritus and former chair of the Department in Germanic Languages and Literatures in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died peacefully Sunday, May 25, 2025, at his home in Webster Groves, Mo. He was 90.
A specialist in medieval German literature, Poag was an authority on Wolfram von Eschenbach, the 13th-century epic poet best remembered for the Arthurian romance “Parzival.” Poag also taught German language courses at all levels, as well as seminars on German literature and courses in religious studies and in comparative literature.
Born in Madison County, Ill., and raised on New York’s Long Island, Poag earned both his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also studied at the University of Vienna and the University of Bonn. Shortly after earning his doctorate, in 1961, Poag joined the faculty at Indiana University. He would go on to win both a Fulbright Award to conduct research at the University of Göttingen (1964-65) and Humboldt Foundation grants to study at the University of Munich (1969) and the Philipps University of Marburg (1970).
Poag arrived at WashU as an associate professor in 1973 and was promoted to full professor the following year. He served as chair of German from 1977-83 and as a guest professor at the University of Tübingen in 1985 and 1988. He also founded and chaired the WashU German program’s undergraduate committee and developed a visiting program for teaching assistants. He was named a professor emeritus in 2000 but continued to teach through WashU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
Major publications include the critical study “Wolfram von Eschenbach” (1970) and two co-edited volumes, “Das Weiterleben des Mittelalters in der deutschen Literatur (1983, with WashU’s Gerhild Scholz Williams) and “Entzauberung der Welt. Deutsche Literatur 1200-1500” (1988, with Thomas Fox). He also wrote more than a dozen journal articles and book chapters, as well as numerous reviews. He served as a consulting editor for the journals Allegorica and Seminar.
Poag is survived by his wife, Juliane Poag; by children Andrew, Maili and Stefan; and by grandsons Jackson and Benjamin. Memorial contributions can be made to groups supporting St. Louis tornado survivors or to the charity of one’s choice.