Rachel Hadas
Encyclopedia
Rachel Hadas is an American poet
, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is Classics: Essays (Textos Books, 2007), and her most recent poetry collection is The Ache of Appetite (Copper Beech Press, 2010). Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ingram Merrill Foundation Grants, the O.B. Hardison Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
classicist Moses Hadas
and Latin
teacher Elizabeth Chamberlayne Hadas, Hadas grew up in Morningside Heights
, New York City
. She received a baccalaureate
at Radcliffe College
in classics
, a Master of Arts
(1977) at Johns Hopkins University
in poetry
, and a doctorate
at Princeton University
in comparative literature
(1982).
Marrying a man from the island of Samos
and living in Greece after her undergraduate work at Radcliffe, Hadas became an intimate of poets James Merrill
and Alan Ansen
, both of whom strongly influenced her early work, as did Cavafy
, whose work she translated, and Seferis
.
She is often associated with the New Formalism
school of poetry, and her work was included in landmark collections of New Formalism including Rebel Angels
and A Formal Feeling Comes. Her subject matter ranges from her roots in the classics through the intimately personal, with memory a recurring theme throughout her work.
During the height of the AIDS
crisis, she led poetry workshops for those afflicted, and edited a number of their works with Charles Barber
, experiences that informed her subsequent work. Her translations of writers including Tibullus, Baudelaire, and the Greek poet Konstantine Karyotakis, have been published to much acclaim. She has taught English at the Newark campus
of Rutgers University
since 1981, where, as of 2006, she is the Board of Governors Professor of English. She is married to composer George Edwards and lives with him and their son in Manhattan
.
Chapbooks
Essay Collections
Memoir
Selected Translations
Anthologies Edited
Anthology Publications
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is Classics: Essays (Textos Books, 2007), and her most recent poetry collection is The Ache of Appetite (Copper Beech Press, 2010). Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ingram Merrill Foundation Grants, the O.B. Hardison Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Biography
The daughter of noted Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
classicist Moses Hadas
Moses Hadas
Moses Hadas was an American teacher, one of the leading classical scholars of the twentieth century, and a translator of numerous works....
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
teacher Elizabeth Chamberlayne Hadas, Hadas grew up in Morningside Heights
Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Morningside Heights is a neighborhood of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City and is chiefly known as the home of institutions such as Columbia University, Teachers College, Barnard College, the Manhattan School of Music, Bank Street College of Education, the Cathedral of Saint John the...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She received a baccalaureate
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
at Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(1977) at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
in poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, and a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
(1982).
Marrying a man from the island of Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
and living in Greece after her undergraduate work at Radcliffe, Hadas became an intimate of poets James Merrill
James Merrill
James Ingram Merrill was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Divine Comedies...
and Alan Ansen
Alan Ansen
Alan Ansen was an American poet, playwright, and associate of Beat Generation writers. He was a widely-read scholar who knew many languages. Ansen grew up on Long Island and was educated at Harvard. He worked as W. H...
, both of whom strongly influenced her early work, as did Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy
Constantine P. Cavafy, also known as Konstantin or Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, or Kavaphes was a renowned Greek poet who lived in Alexandria and worked as a journalist and civil servant...
, whose work she translated, and Seferis
Giorgos Seferis
Giorgos or George Seferis was the pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs . He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate...
.
She is often associated with the New Formalism
New Formalism
New Formalism is a late-20th and early 21st century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical and rhymed verse.-Origins and intentions:...
school of poetry, and her work was included in landmark collections of New Formalism including Rebel Angels
Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism
Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism is an anthology of poets edited by Mark Jarman and David Mason, published by Story Line Press in 1996...
and A Formal Feeling Comes. Her subject matter ranges from her roots in the classics through the intimately personal, with memory a recurring theme throughout her work.
During the height of the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
crisis, she led poetry workshops for those afflicted, and edited a number of their works with Charles Barber
Charles Barber (author)
Charles Barber is an author who writes frequently about mental health and psychiatry.-Education and Influences:Barber attended Harvard University, where he studied with and was greatly influenced by the psychiatrist and writer Robert Coles...
, experiences that informed her subsequent work. Her translations of writers including Tibullus, Baudelaire, and the Greek poet Konstantine Karyotakis, have been published to much acclaim. She has taught English at the Newark campus
Rutgers-Newark
Rutgers University in Newark is one of three campuses of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the eighth oldest college in the United States and a member of the Association of American Universities...
of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
since 1981, where, as of 2006, she is the Board of Governors Professor of English. She is married to composer George Edwards and lives with him and their son in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Selected bibliography
Full-Length Poetry Collections- The Ache of Appetite, Copper Beech Press, 2010, ISBN 9780914278849
- River of Forgetfulness, David Robert Books, 2006, ISBN 9781933456249; (WordTech CommunicationsWordTech CommunicationsWordTech Communications LLC is one of the largest poetry publishers in the United States, producing nearly 50 titles per year. The press is owned and operated by Lori Jareo and Kevin Walzer. Some of their more notable authors are Ravi Shankar , Philip Dacey, Rachel Hadas, J. E...
, 2006) - Laws, University of Nebraska PressUniversity of Nebraska PressThe University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
, 2004), ISBN 9781932023138 - The Double Legacy: Reflections on a Pair of Deaths (Faber & Faber, 1995)
- Mirrors of Astonishment (Rutgers University PressRutgers University PressRutgers University Press is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in Piscataway, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University.-History:...
, 1992) - Living in Time (Rutgers University Press, 1990)
- Pass It On, Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
, 1989, ISBN 9780691014548 - Slow Transparency (Wesleyan University Press, 1983)
Chapbooks
- Starting from Troy (David R. GodineDavid R. GodineDavid R. Godine is the founder and president of David R. Godine, Inc., a small publishing house located in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is independent and its list tends to reflect the individual tastes of its president....
, 1975)
Essay Collections
- Classics: Essays (Textos Books, 2007)
- Merrill, Cavafy, Poems, and Dreams (University of Michigan PressUniversity of Michigan PressThe University of Michigan Press is part of the University of Michigan Library and serves as a primary publishing unit of the University of Michigan, with special responsibility for the creation and promotion of scholarly, educational, and regional books and other materials in digital and print...
, 2000)
Memoir
Selected Translations
- Other Worlds Than This (Rutger University Press, 1994)
Anthologies Edited
- The Greek Poets: Homer to the Present (W.W. Norton, 2010; Eds., Peter Constantine, Rachel Hadas, Edmund Keeley, Karen Van Dyck)
- Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop (Ed. with Charles Barber, Faber & Faber, 1991)
Anthology Publications