Ruth Stone (June 8, 1915 – November 19, 2011) was an award-winning American poet.

Life and poetry

Stone was born in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is lo ...

and lived there until age 6, when her family moved back to her parents' hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. 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. 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. She was buried near the raspberry bushes behind her Goshen home.

Career

Stone's verse was published widely in periodicals, and she was the author of thirteen books of poetry. 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 Goshen is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 172 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Geography Goshen is located in southern Addison County, within the Green Mountains. It is bordered by the town of Fo ...

, 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

''Poetry'' Magazine Bess Hoken Prize, 1953 Kenyon Review Fellowship in Poetry, 1956 Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, 1963-1965

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, Poetry, 1971

, Poetry, 1975

Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew up. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when ...

Award, 1983

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...

, 1986 Paterson Poetry Prize, 1988 Cerf Lifetime Achievement Award, State of Vermont Shelley Memorial Award.Eric Mathieu King Award,

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

for ''In the Next Galaxy'', 2002

Wallace Stevens Award The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

, Academy of American Poets, 2002 Poet Laureate of Vermont, 2007 Finalist,

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

for ''What Love Comes To: New and Selected Poems'', 2009

Legacy

Stone's long-time residence in

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2016. Her heirs (both literary and family) — including her granddaughter, poet and visual artist

Bianca Stone Bianca Stone is a Brooklyn based poet and visual artist. Her poems have appeared in literary magazines and poetry collections, and her illustrations are a part of Anne Carson's project, ''Antigonick''. Early life and education Stone graduated ...

— have established a foundation to convert the property into a writer's retreat. ''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. Stone's daughter
Phoebe Stone
and Abigail Stone, and her granddaughter

, are all published writers.

Cultural references

The voice of Ruth Stone reading her poem "Be Serious" is featured in the film ''USA The Movie''. A documentary film by Nora Jacobson, ''Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind'', was released in 2022.

Bibliography

*''What Love Comes To: New and Selected Poems'',

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, UK edition, 2009, * —finalist for the 2009

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

"Poetry"
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-04-08. *; Copper Canyon Press, 2007, * winner of the

"National Book Awards – 2002"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
(With acceptance speech by Stone, announcement by Poetry Panel Chair Dave Smith, and essay by Katie Peterson from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) *''Ordinary Words'', Paris Press, 2000, winner of the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia is a research library that specializes in American history and literature, history of Virginia and the southeastern United States, the history of the University ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

References

External links

Ruth Stone Foundation
from the

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Rut ...

Ruth Stone from the Academy of American PoetsProfile at The Whiting Foundation"''What Love Comes To''"
Joe Ahearn, ''Cold Front'', September 3, 2008
"The Imagined Galaxies of Ruth Stone"
''NPR''
"Ruth Stone"
''Narrative Magazine''

''The Drunken Boat'', Rebecca Seiferle

* ttp://www.thethepoetry.com/2011/12/abigail-stone-wrapped-in-newspaper/ In Memoriam of Ruth Stone, written by her daughter Abigail Stonefro
THEthe Poetry Blog
*, September 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Ruth National Book Award winners Poets Laureate of Vermont Poets from Vermont Poets from Virginia People from Goshen, Vermont Writers from Roanoke, Virginia 1915 births 2011 deaths American women poets 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers Binghamton University faculty American women academics 21st-century American women