Ruth Whitman Explained

Ruth Whitman
Birth Name:	Ruth Bashein
Birth Date:	28 May 1922
Birth Place:	New York City, New York
Death Place:	Rhode Island
Occupation:	Poet Translator Professor
Notable Works:	Tamsen Donner: A Woman's Journey

Ruth Whitman (May 28, 1922 – December 1, 1999)^[1] was an American poet, translator, and professor.

Career

Whitman received a B.A. and an M.A. from Radcliffe College, and also taught at Radcliffe,^[2] and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Her eighth and last book is Hatshepshut, Speak to me (Wayne State University Press, 1992), and her most well-known and well-regarded is Tamsen Donner: A Woman’s Journey.

She also translated poetry from Yiddish, and wrote the beloved poem Sisters.^[3]

Her honors and awards include a Senior Fulbright Writer-in-Residence Fellowship to Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Bunting Institute Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship.^[4] She won a 1969 National Jewish Book Award in the English Poetry category for The Marriage Wig and Other Poems.^[5]

Her poems were published in literary journals and magazines including AGNI^[6] and Ploughshares.^[7] She was an early cooperative member of Alice James Books,^[8] and was the poetry editor for Radcliffe Quarterly from 1980 - 1995.

Her papers are held at the Hollis Archives at Harvard Library.^[9]

Personal life

The oldest daughter of Meyer David and Martha H. Bashein, né Sherman, Whitman was born on May 28, 1922, in New York City.

At the time of her death, she lived in Middletown, Rhode Island, and was married to Morton Sacks, a painter, and had three children, Rachel, Lee, and David.

Her first marriage was to Cedric Whitman and her second to Firman Houghton.

Published works

Full-length Poetry Collections

• Hatshepshut, Speak to me (Wayne State University Press, 1992)
• Laughing Gas: Poems, New and Selected, 1963-1990 (Wayne State University Press, 1990)
• The testing of Hanna Senesh (Wayne State University Press, 1986, with a historical background by Livia Rothkirchen)
• Permanent Address (Alice James Books, 1980)
• Tamsen Donner: A Woman's Journey (Alice James Books, 1977)
• The Passion of Lizzie Borden (October House, 1973)
• The Marriage Wig and Other Poems (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968)
• Blood & Milk Poems (Clarke & Way, 1963)

Translations

• The selected poems of Jacob Glatstein (October House, 1972)
• An anthology of modern Yiddish poetry (October House, 1966)

Non-fiction

• Becoming a Poet: Source, Process, Practice (The Writer, Inc., 1982)

Sources

• Library of Congress Online Catalog > Ruth Whitman

External links

• Alice James Books > Author Page > Ruth Whitman
• Wayne State University Press > Author Page > Ruth Whitman
• Jewish Women's Archive > Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia > Ruth Whitman, 1922 – 1999 > by Sylvia Rothchild
• Sylvia Rothchild, Biography of Ruth Whitman, Jewish Women Encyclopedia
• Papers of Ruth Whitman, 1930-1998 (inclusive), 1940-1996 (bulk): A Finding Aid. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rothchild . Sylvia . 31 December 1999 . Ruth Whitman . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221002161012/https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/whitman-ruth . 2 October 2022 . 9 February 2023 . The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women . . en.
2. Book: Feruson, Mary Anne . Images of Women in Literature . . 1973 . 0395139066 . Boston . 89 . en.
3. Web site: 9 December 1999 . Ruth Whitman, Poet, Former Radcliffe Seminars Instructor, Dies . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160724055618/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/12.09/whitman.html . 24 July 2016 . The Harvard University Gazette.
4. Web site: Tamsen Donner - Ruth Whitman . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081217041124/http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/tamsen_donner.html . 17 December 2008 . Alice James Books.
5. Web site: National Jewish Book Awards - Past Winners - 1969 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221020071927/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?year=1969 . 20 October 2022 . 20 January 2020 . . en.
6. Web site: 15 May 1978 . AGNI 8 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200723115713/https://agnionline.bu.edu/about/the-journal/archive/agni-8/ . 23 July 2020 . 9 February 2023 . AGNI Online . en . Contents list for print magazine.
7. Web site: Ruth Whitman . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210605110956/https://www.pshares.org/authors/ruth-whitman . 5 June 2021 . 9 February 2023 . . Emerson College.
8. http://www.alicejamesbooks.org/about_ajb.html Alice James Books > About Us
9. Web site: Collection: Papers of Ruth Whitman, 1930-1998 (inclusive), 1940-1996 (bulk) . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220924205855/https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/8239 . 24 September 2022 . 9 February 2023 . Hollis Archives . Harvard Library.