Maxine Kumin

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Maxine Kumin (June 6, 1925–February 6, 2014) was an American poet and writer.

In 1981–1982, she was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

Early years

Maxine Kumin was born Maxine Winokur, the daughter of Jewish parents', and attended Catholic kindergarten and primary school in Philadelphia on June 6, 1925. She earned her B.A. She earned her M.A. in 1946 and her M.A. In 1948, Radcliffe College began. Victor Kumin, an engineering consultant, married her in June 1946; they had three children, two daughters, and a son. She studied poetry with John Holmes at the Boston Center for Adult Education in 1957. Anne Sexton, with whom she began a friendship that continued until Sexton's death in 1974, was present. Kumin taught English from 1958 to 1961 and 1965 at Tufts University; from 1961 to 1965, she was a scholar at the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. She has also served as a visiting lecturer and poet in residence at numerous American colleges and universities. She and her husband lived on a farm in Warner, New Hampshire, where they bred Arabian and quarter horses from 1976 to their death in February 2014.

Kumin's numerous awards include the Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize for Poetry (1972) for Up Country, the 1994 Poets' Award for excellence in literature (1990), an Academy of American Poets Fellowship (1986), and six honorary degrees. The Supersisters trading card set was produced and sold in 1979; one of the cards featured Kumin's name and photograph; one of the cards featured Kumin's name and image. She was also given the Sarah Joseph Hale Award and the Levinson Prize. The Academy of American Poets has also received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and fellowships. She served as the poetry advisor to the Library of Congress from 1981-1902. Kumin's biography has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal.

Critics have compared Kumin with Elizabeth Bishop because of her meticulous observations and friendship with Robert Frost, because she frequently devotes her time to rural New England's rhythms. Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Lowell have all been grouped with confessional poets. Kumin, on the other hand, dismisses high rhetoric and settles for a simple style. Kumin has found a balance between her sense of life's transience and her fascination with the world around her. She was a judge for the Brittingham Prize in Poetry in 1985, and she selected Patricia Dobler's Talking To Strangers.

She taught poetry in New England College's Low-Residency MFA Program. She was also a contributing editor at The Alaska Quarterly Review. Carolyn Kizer, a fellow-poet, first served on and then resigned from the Academy of American Poets' board, an act that galvanized the movement for greater representation by women and minorities.

Kumin, 88, died in February 2014 at her home in Warner, after a year of poor health.

Kumin is thought to be the first person to have seen Anne Sexton alive, as the two of them had lunch the day before Sexton's suicide in 1974.

Source

Career

Kumin's many awards include the Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize for Poetry (1972), the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1973) for Up Country, in 1995 the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the 1994 Poets' Prize (for Looking for Luck), an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award for excellence in literature (1980), an Academy of American Poets fellowship (1986), the 1999 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and six honorary degrees. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Kumin's name and picture. She was also awarded the Sarah Joseph Hale Award and the Levinson Prize. She has also received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets. In 1981–1982, she served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. Kumin has been published in Beloit Poetry Journal.

Critics have compared Kumin with Elizabeth Bishop because of her meticulous observations and with Robert Frost, for she frequently devotes her attention to the rhythms of life in rural New England. She has been grouped with confessional poets such as Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell. But unlike the confessionalists, Kumin eschews high rhetoric and adopts a plain style. Throughout her career, Kumin has struck a balance between her sense of life's transience and her fascination with the dense physical presence of the world around her. She served as the 1985 judge of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and she selected Patricia Dobler's Talking To Strangers.

She taught poetry in New England College's Low-Residency MFA Program. She was also a contributing editor at The Alaska Quarterly Review. Together with fellow-poet Carolyn Kizer, she first served on and then resigned from the board of chancellors of the Academy of American Poets, an act that galvanized the movement for opening this august body to broader representation by women and minorities.

Kumin, aged 88, died in February 2014 at her home in Warner, following a year of failing health.

Kumin is believed to be the last person to have seen Anne Sexton alive, as the two of them had had lunch the day of Sexton's suicide in 1974.

Source