Rukeyser, Muriel

Rukeyser, Muriel

▪ American poet
born Dec. 15, 1913, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died Feb. 12, 1980, New York City

      American poet whose work focused on social and political problems.

      Rukeyser attended private schools and in 1930–32 was a student at Vassar College. During that time she contributed poems to Poetry magazine and other periodicals. She worked on the staff of the Student Review in 1932–33 and later edited the Housatonic, a literary journal. In 1935 her first volume of poems appeared as Theory of Flight in the Yale Younger Poets series.Rukeyser's travels over the next few years provided material for the poems in Mediterranean (1938), U.S. 1 (1938), and A Turning Wind (1939). Her use of fragmented, emotional imagery is sometimes considered excessive, but her work is noted for its power and acuity. In 1942 she published Willard Gibbs: American Genius, a biography of the 19th-century mathematician and physicist.

      She supported herself by lecturing and working in film. In addition to several more volumes of poetry, Rukeyser wrote the prose work The Life of Poetry (1949) and several books for children. She also produced another biography, The Traces of Thomas Hariot (1971), and published translations of Octavio Paz (Selected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1963), Gunnar Ekelöf (Selected Poems of Gunnar Ekelöf, 1967; with Leif Sjöber), and Bertolt Brecht (Uncle Eddie's Moustache, 1974). Her last volume of poetry, The Collected Poems, was published in 1978.

      From 1956 to 1967 Rukeyser taught at Sarah Lawrence College. Having taken up the cause of Spanish loyalists during the Spanish Civil War, she remained politically active in her later years.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • RUKEYSER, MURIEL — (1913–1980), U.S. poet and author. A prominent left wing writer, Rukeyser published verse collections notable for their concern with social problems and the individual. These include Theory of Flight (1935), A Turning Wind (1939), The Beast in… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Rukeyser,Muriel — Ru·key·ser (ro͞oʹkī zər), Muriel. 1913 1980. American writer whose feminist poetry, including the collections Beast in View (1944) and The Gates (1976), often speaks out against racism and war. * * * …   Universalium

  • Rukeyser, Muriel — (1914 80)    American poet, writer and translator. She was born in New York, and taught at Sarah Lawrence College. Her poetry includes works about Rabbi Akiva …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Muriel Rukeyser — (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Kenneth Rexroth said that she was the greatest poet of her exact generation . One …   Wikipedia

  • Muriel (given name) — Muriel Muriel is an English name derived from Celtic elements meaning sea and bright Pronunciation /ˈmjʊəriəl/ Gen …   Wikipedia

  • Rukeyser — /rooh kuy zeuhr/, n. Muriel, 1913 80, U.S. poet. * * * …   Universalium

  • Rukeyser — /rooh kuy zeuhr/, n. Muriel, 1913 80, U.S. poet …   Useful english dictionary

  • American literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States.       Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a… …   Universalium

  • SWEDEN, bibliography — Bibliographic Resources Holmback, Bure. About Sweden, 1900 1963: A Bibliographical Outline. Sweden Illustrated 15 (1968): 5 94. Josephson, Aksel G. S. A List of Swedish Books, 1875 1925. New York: Bonniers, 1927. Nelson, Walter W. A Bibliography… …   Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater

  • Dennis J. Bernstein — Dennis J Bernstein is an award winning investigative reporter for print and radio. He is the producer and host of the award winning radio news program, Flashpoints Radio on Pacifica Radio. Flashpoints originates from Pacifica Radio s flagship… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”