Ruth Lechlitner
Ruth Naomi Lechlitner was a notable American poet and writer born on March 27, 1901, in Elkhart, Indiana. She completed her A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1923, followed by an M.A. from the University of Iowa in 1926, where she began her journey in writing and poetry. After marrying fellow writer Paul F. Corey in 1928, Lechlitner and her family pursued a dual life as freelance writers and chicken farmers, first in New York and later in California. Her literary contributions include a variety of literary reviews and verse dramas for radio, but she is primarily celebrated for her poetry.
Lechlitner's work often reflects her deep connection to nature, a theme she explored from her first poem, "To the Wild Rose," at the age of nineteen. Her poetry evolved to incorporate complex themes, including the political climate leading up to World War II, as seen in her collections such as "Tomorrow's Phoenix" (1937) and "Only the Years" (1944). Her later works, including "A Changing Season" (1973), showcase her ability to articulate fresh perspectives on nature and everyday life. Lechlitner continued writing until her death on November 9, 1989, in Sonoma, California, leaving behind a legacy of thoughtful poetry that engages with both personal and global themes.
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Ruth Lechlitner
Poet
- Born: March 27, 1901
- Birthplace: Elkhart, Indiana
- Died: November 9, 1989
- Place of death: Sonoma, California
Biography
Ruth Naomi Lechlitner was born on March 27, 1901, in Elkhart, Indiana. Her parents were Martin Lechlitner, a builder, and Jessie Wier James. Ruth Lechlitner grew up in Mishawaka, Indiana, and then completed her A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1923. After teaching high-school English in New Mexico and publishing several poems, she won a scholarship to the University of Iowa, where she completed her M.A. in 1926. She then moved to New York City where she became an editorial assistant at The Nation. In 1928, she married Paul F. Corey, an author whom she had met in Iowa. After a year of traveling overseas, Lechlitner and Corey moved to Cold-Spring-on-Hudson, New York, where they built their first home and made a living as freelance writers and chicken farmers. Their only child, Anne Margaret, was born in 1941. In 1947, they relocated to Sonoma, California, where they built their second home.
While Lechlitner produced a wide variety of literary reviews and several verse dramas for radio, she is best known for her poetry. Her first poem, “To the Wild Rose,” written when the author was only nineteen, appeared in The Poets of the Future: A College Anthology for 1920-1921, edited by Henry T. Schnittkind. This early poem reveals her fascination with nature as a subject and setting, a pattern that appears in virtually all of her subsequent poems in one form or another. By the time she wrote her poem “Corn,” which appeared in Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1926, she was already weaving into her work the subtle ironies of nature serving as a setting for both life and death.
Lechlitner’s first collection of poetry, Tomorrow’s Phoenix, appeared in 1937. This volume demonstrates considerable maturity in style and variety. Her indebtedness to the Metaphysical Poets of the seventeenth century is evident, as is her growing awareness of the political climate that would lead to World War II. Lechlitner’s second volume of poetry, Only the Years, appearing in 1944, reflects the poet’s concern with political events and shows her antifascist views. Lechlitner’s third volume, The Shadow of the Hour, published in 1956, shows further tendencies toward philosophizing, but also demonstrates her ability to juxtapose disparate themes. For example, her poem “Lines for the Year’s End,” that first appeared in Poetry magazine in November, 1948, connects dropped fruit with the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan, and weaves in an apocalyptic theme with references to “Our atom-dwelling God.”
Lechlitner’s subsequent poems, such as “Drawing By Ronnie C., Grade One” and “The Voice of the Dolphin,” tended to be less pessimistic and more precise than her war year poems. Her fourth volume, A Changing Season: Selected and New Poems, 1962-1972, published in 1973, demonstrates her enduring ability to capture fresh images from nature and daily life. At the time of her death in Sonoma, California, on November 9, 1989, Lechlitner was still working on a final collection of poetry, tentatively titled Through the Glass Darkly.