Ruth Stone Explained

Ruth Stone
Birth Date:8 June 1915
Birth Place:Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
Death Place:Ripton, Vermont, U.S.
Known For:What Love Comes To
Education:University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA)
Awards:2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2007 Vermont State Poet, 2002 National Book Award, Whiting Award and two Guggenheim Fellowships[1] [2]

Ruth Stone (June 8, 1915 – November 19, 2011) was an American poet.[3]

Life and poetry

Stone was born in Roanoke, Virginia and lived there until age 6, when her family moved back to her parents' hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.[4] She went to college at the University of Illinois. Her first marriage was to John Clapp in 1935, and they had one daughter. Her second marriage was to professor and poet Walter Stone, in 1944, with whom she had two daughters. Walter Stone, who served in World War II, received a PhD from Harvard, and taught at University of Illinois, and then at Vassar College.[5] Walter Stone committed suicide in 1959; this tragedy shaped the path of Ruth Stone's life, as she sought ways to support herself and her daughters by teaching poetry at universities across the United States.

Her work is distinguished by its tendency to draw imagery and language from the natural sciences.

Stone died at her home in Goshen, Vermont, on November 19, 2011.[6] She was buried near the raspberry bushes behind her Goshen home.[7]

Career

Stone's verse was published widely in periodicals, and she was the author of thirteen books of poetry.[8]

In 1990 Stone became a professor of English and Creative Writing at Binghamton University, and retired from this position at the age of 85.

Early on, Stone's work was recognized by editors. While her husband was teaching at Vassar College, Stone received the Kenyon Review Fellowship in Poetry.

House in Goshen, Vermont

When Stone received the Kenyon Review Fellowship in Poetry, she and Walter used the funds to buy a house in Goshen, Vermont, expecting that it would be a place to go in the summers, and to eventually retire. The house became a refuge for Stone after Walter's death, and over the years, became an intellectual center for her students and other poets.

Awards

Legacy

Stone's long-time residence in Goshen, Vermont was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Her heirs (both literary and family) — including her granddaughter, poet and visual artist Bianca Stone[12] — have established a foundation to convert the property into a writer's retreat.[13]

Paintbrush: A Journal of Poetry and Translation 27 (2000/2001) was devoted entirely to Stone's work.

The Ruth Stone Poetry Prize awarded by The Vermont College of Fine Arts and their literary journal Hunger Mountain is in its sixth year.[14]

Stone's daughters Phoebe Stone and Abigail Stone, and her granddaughters Hillery Stone and Bianca Stone, are all published writers.

Cultural references

The voice of Ruth Stone reading her poem "Be Serious" is featured in the film USA The Movie.[15]

A documentary film by Nora Jacobson, Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind, was released in 2022.[16]

Bibliography

Copper Canyon Press, 2007,

Archive

Ruth Stone's papers reside at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090426/FEATURES07/904260326 Times-Argus article
  2. The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Ed. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Oxford University Press.
  3. https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/ruth-stone/ Copper Canyon Press Bio
  4. News: Langer . Emily . 27 November 2011 . Ruth Stone, poet who won acclaim later in her life, dies at 96 . The Washington Post . 9 April 2022.
  5. Web site: 2015-03-18 . The House With Feet: The Dire Importance of Ruth Stone's Bequest • VIDA: Women in Literary Arts . 2022-04-09 . VIDA: Women in Literary Arts . en-US.
  6. News: Ruth Stone, a Poet Celebrated Late in Life, Dies at 96. The New York Times. William Grimes. November 24, 2011.
  7. Web site: About Ruth Stone: Her Land . RuthStoneHouse.org . Ruth Stone House . Goshen, VT . February 21, 2023.
  8. News: Ruth Stone . London . The Daily Telegraph . January 1, 2012.
  9. Web site: Past Fellows . 2022-04-09 . The Kenyon Review . en.
  10. Web site: Ruth Stone . 2022-04-09 . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation . en-US.
  11. Book: Beal, Jane . American Writers Supplement . Gale . 2016 . 249–65 . Ruth Stone.
  12. http://www.newsadvance.com/the_burg/features/cover_story/riverviews-rebus-exhibit-showcases-poetry-comics/article_9f0ea09e-a484-11e3-b048-0017a43b2370.html "Riverviews' 'Rebus' exhibit showcases poetry comics"
  13. Web site: Late Poet Laureate Ruth Stone's Goshen home is coming back to life. Addison Independent. November 28, 2016. 2016-12-13.
  14. Web site: Hunger Mountain - VCFA Journal of the Arts . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180724123554/http://hungermtn.org/ . 2018-07-24 . 2018-09-10.
  15. Web site: Ruth Stone . IMDb.
  16. https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2022-01-14/norwich-filmmaker-premieres-documentary-on-vermont-poet-laureate-ruth-stone
  17. http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Poetry "Poetry"
  18. https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2002 "National Book Awards – 2002"

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