One of her most powerful pieces was a group of poems titled the book of the dead 1938, documenting the details of the hawks nest. Those hearings became the raw material for rukeysers poetry and the impetus for her trip, taken with the photographer nancy naumburg. Industrial tragedies sometimes find their way into poetry and so it is with the book of the dead by the former political activist muriel rukeyser. Muriel rukeyser as a young writer muriel rukeyser and other writers the book of the dead. New york quarterly 11 summer 1972 and in the craft of. Muriel rukeyser december 15, 19 february 12, 1980 was an american poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and judaism. As marilyn hacker has noted, for rukeyser poetry could encompass both science and history, that of the past and of the present, from the depression through the antiwar movements in which the poet was active at the end of her career. Carson cant keep up with rodney dangerfields nonstop oneliners 1974 duration.
Written in response to the hawks nest tunnel disaster of 1931 in gauley bridge, west virginia, the book of the dead is an important part of west virginias cultural heritage and a powerful account of one of the worst industrial catastrophes in american history. Rukeyser is on record as having drawn on the egyptian text in her book of the dead, a long poetic sequence about west virginia miners, published in u. Rukeysers twenty poem sequence was published in her second book u. Contents editors notes 000 acknowledgments 000 introduction 000 theory of flight 1935 1 poem out of childhood poem out of childhood 000 song for dead children 000 in a dark house 000 effort at speech between two people 000 notes for a poem 000 placerituals 000 tradition of this acre 000 ritual of blessing 000 wooden spring 000 sonnet 000 letter, unposted. Muriel rukeyser was born in new york city on december 15, 19. I stumbled across this poem on a flavorwire post on here and fell in love with it immediately. The fear of poetry in this moment when we face horizons and conflicts wider than ever before, we want our resources, the ways of strength. Jul 31, 2003 the poem the book of the dead by muriel rukeyser was published in 1938 and commemorates the gauley tunnel tragedy, in which between 700800 men died of acute silicosis. The accumulated work is the finished building that rises from the blueprint, the hall. Muriel rukeyser and documentary edinburgh university press. Muriel rukeyser, american poet whose work focused on social and political problems. Aug 17, 2010 muriel rukeyser reads her poem despisals. Rukeysers poem clearly emerges from 1930s radicalism, as well as from rukeysers deeply felt calling to poetry.
Muriel rukeyser books list of books by author muriel rukeyser. Admirers of muriel rukeyser have been waiting for a reprint of the book of the dead, long out of print, and west virginia university presss new edition does not. The original manuscript the book of the dead was an egyptian collection of funerary spells and ritual practices c. Elisabeth daumers post context for waterlily fire rightly points out the theme of interrelatedness that runs.
We have new and used copies available, in 0 edition starting at. Seasons and maps coming where this road comesinto a landscape mirrored in these men. During her life, muriel rukeyser was often the center of controversy. Rukeyser, was a successful businessman, her mother, myra lyons rukeyser, was a former bookkeeper. Her poetry, however, never exists purely in the realm of politics.
The book of the dead poem by muriel rukeyser poem hunter. Sep 24, 20 muriel rukeyser reads the poem as mask when i wrote of the women in their dances and wildness, it was a mask, on their mountain, goldhunting, singing, in orgy, it was a mask. Aug 22, 1979 the whole the collected poems of muriel rukeyser. Analysis of the book of the dead has been isolated from its original place of publication, u. These miners, mostly africanamericans, had been mining silica without being given masks, leading to the fatal lung diseases, silicosis, for hundreds of them.
Muriel rukeyser reads the poem as mask when i wrote of the women in their dances and wildness, it was a mask, on their mountain, goldhunting, singing, in orgy, it. I had never heard muriel rukeyser s voice before i began to make a vimeo of her reading her poem the speed of darkness, a caedmon recording. During that time she contributed poems to poetry magazine and other periodicals. Heath anthology of american literaturemuriel rukeyser. Buy collected poems of muriel rukeyser by muriel rukeyser, janet e kaufman editor, anne f herzog editor online at alibris. The book of the dead by muriel rukeyser was published as part of her 1938 volume u. Muriel rukeyser december 15, 19 february 12, 1980 was an american poet and political. Born in new york city, rukeyser attended vassar and columbia, then spent a short time at roosevelt aviation school, which no doubt helped shape her first published volume of poetry, theory of flight 1935.
Rebinding the book of the dead into muriel rukeysers u. Her poetry sought to embody, with striking verbal and thematic juxtapositions, the unity she believed underlies a world seemingly disconnected. The book, so bill rukeyser tells us, will get as close as possible to realizing the 80year old vision of both mr and photographer nancy naumburg that book of the dead be published as a photopoetry work. I had heard supreme court justice sonia sotomayors voice, however, and while i edited the poem, listening to it over and over, i. The poem, which is probably the most ambitious and least. The book, so bill rukeyser tells us, gets as close as possible to realizing the 80year old vision of both mr and photographer nancy naumburg that book of the dead be published as a photopoetry work. Muriel rukeyser was a poet, playwright, biographer, childrens book author, and political activist. Tim daytons critical study characterizes the literal and political world of rukeyser at the time she wrote the poem. Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at jacket2. Looking at each other a valentines love poem looking at each other. So argues the magnificent muriel rukeyser in the 1949 treasure the life of poetry public library a wise and wonderful exploration of all the ways in which we keep ourselves from the gift of an art so elemental yet so transcendent, so infinitely soulstretching, so capable of. As marilyn hacker has noted, for rukeyser poetry could encompass both science and history, that of the past and of the. The unchanged terrain of muriel rukeysers the book of the dead.
Myth muriel rukeyser long afterward, oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads. Muriel rukeyser revealed as total poet the new york. Project muse muriel rukeysers the book of the dead. Muriel rukeyser on what poetry does for us, what it shares with science, and why some people resist it however confused the scene of our life appears, however torn we may be who now do face that scene, it can be faced, and we can go on to be whole. The book of the dead in depth study jonathan rose modern. Collected poems of muriel rukeyser by muriel rukeyser, janet. Muriel rukeysers poetry has always focused around a particular event be it something of global proportions such as the spanish civil war mediterranean or the japanese occupation of korea the gates or, as with the book of the dead, a specific disaster closer to her home, america. Rukeyser book of the dead pdf welcome to the muriel rukeyser website.
Written in response to the hawks nest tunnel disaster of 1931. Rukeyser was a prolific and important writer during her publishing years, 19351980. Rukeysers poem clearly emerges from 1930s radicalism, as. Collected poems of muriel rukeyser by muriel rukeyser. I had heard supreme court justice sonia sotomayors voice, however, and while i edited the poem, listening to it over and over, i kept thinking it was justice sotomayor who was reading to me and not muriel rukeyser. Indeed, for rukeyser, these activities and forms of expression were linked. Here is the analysis of it muriel rukeysers looking at each other is built on a simple line that repeats its initial affirmation as a thrum. In this terrible disaster, an undetermined number of men. Rukeyser attended private schools and in 193032 was a student at vassar college. The fear of poetry by muriel rukeyser anthony wilson.
Provides a new perspective on the documentary diversity of muriel rukeysers work and influences winner of the inaugural peggy obrien book prize of the irish association for american studies iaas this study of twentiethcentury american poet. I had never heard muriel rukeysers voice before i began to make a vimeo of her reading her poem the speed of darkness, a caedmon recording. West virginia university press will issue muriel rukeysers iconic the book of the dead as a freestanding volume. Muriel rukeyser was an american poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and judaism.
Muriel rukeysers the book of the dead by tim dayton nook. In 1938, muriel rukeyser wrote the book of the dead, a long poem. Table of contents for the collected poems of muriel rukeyser. Muriel rukeysers first book of poetry, theory of flight, based on her experience of taking flying lessons, was chosen for the yale younger poets series. How we did it, also reprinted in the book, is another.
Tracing the fight for equality and womens rights through poetry. The unchanged terrain of muriel rukeysers the book of. Auden, stephen spender, and other political poets, her work more clearly evolves from that of ralph waldo emerson, herman melville, and walt whitman. A journal of literature, history and the philosophy of history 12 fall 1982. Kenneth rexroth said that she was the greatest poet of her exact generation. Twothousand miners were drilling a tunnel a little over three miles long so that the river could be diverted, as part of a union carbide hydroelectric power plant project. We look again to the human wish, its faiths, the means by which the imagination leads us to surpass ourselves. Ganders introduction to the issue can be accessed, free of charge, here. Muriel rukeysers iconic the book of the dead has been published as a freestanding volume from west virginia university press. Muriel rukeyser books list of books by author muriel. Scholars have skillfully analyzed muriel rukeysers the book of the dead for how it manifests modernist discourses, but decontexualizations have led to substantial oversights. In muriel rukeysers the book of the dead, tim dayton continues that study by characterizing the literary and political world of rukeyser at the time she wrote the book of the dead.
In the early 1930s, she joined elizabeth bishop, mary mccarthy, and eleanor clark in founding a literary. In 1938, muriel rukeyser wrote the book of the dead, a long poem describing the impact of a silica mine on a small west virginia town, gauley bridge. Arguing that the modernist epic poem is often regarded as a masculine form of expression, this article describes the ways in which rukeysers the book of the dead attempts to authorize women as writers, speakers, and subjects of epic poetry by appropriating the voices of three historical women a poor mother. Throughout her life, muriel rukeyser maintained that poetry proved an essential means of communicating and acting in the world, a way to meet the moment with our lives and invite a total response life of poetry811. Muriel rukeyser s p edited by adrienne rich bloodaxe books. One of her most powerful pieces was a group of poems titled the book of the dead. The poems collected here investigate the roots of a tragedy that killed hundreds of workers, most of them african. Rukeyser s book is about poetry, always, and also about much more modern film, jazz, war, science, musical comedy, her own childhood and youth.
Seasons and maps coming where this road comesinto a landscape mirrored in these men page. Jan 21, 2016 the fear of poetry in this moment when we face horizons and conflicts wider than ever before, we want our resources, the ways of strength. Muriel rukeyser 191980, described by the new york times as a brilliant mind fiercely at work, was the author of several collections of poetry, plays, fiction, biographies, childrens stories, a booklength manifesto on poetry, and a libretto for a musical about houdini. The life of poetry by muriel rukeyser, paperback barnes. Looking at each other a valentines love poem feb 14, 20 yes, we were looking at each other. The poem, which is probably the most ambitious and least understood work of depressionera american verse, commemorates the worst industrial accident in u. A political activist as well as a poet, rukeyser devoted much of her time and writing to issues of feminism and social justice. Muriel rukeysers the book of the dead by tim dayton. The book of the dead is thus also one of rukeysers many poems that reflect and contribute to her political activism. The poem the book of the dead by muriel rukeyser was published in 1938 and commemorates the gauley tunnel tragedy, in which between 700800 men died of acute silicosis. Dec 26, 2012 rukeyser is on record as having drawn on the egyptian text in her book of the dead, a long poetic sequence about west virginia miners, published in u. Rukeysers book is about poetry, always, and also about much more modern film, jazz, war, science, musical comedy, her own childhood and youth. In it rukeyser turns brutal depression era facts into searing poetry and calls the readers attention to a huge ragged labor scar on our nations face. Her literary career began in 1935 when her book of poetry theory of flight, based on flying.
741 683 926 536 488 329 485 487 1154 1541 186 524 515 432 475 231 289 807 50 1010 56 1069 820 875 1294 1365 1024 1469