Hilda Morley

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Hilda Morley (1916–March 23, 1998) was an American poet.

She was born Hilda Auerbach in New York City to Russian parents. Her father, Rachmiel Auerbach, was a doctor, and her mother, Sonia Lubove Kamenetsky, was a feminist and Labor Zionist. Her mother was born in Baku, and her father, born in Riga, was descended from Hassidic rabbis. She was a cousin through her father of Isaiah Berlin. As a child she wrote amazingly precocious work, and corresponded with William Butler Yeats. At the age of fifteen she moved to Haifa, Palestine with her mother, and later to London to study at the University of London. She was briefly married during her time in London, and divorced. She met and corresponded later with the poet, H.D. who would influence her work. At their first meeting Hilda Morley questioned H.D. about her friendship with D. H. Lawrence and H.D. said, "You make me feel historical."

When the blitz began in London she moved back to the United States. In 1945, she married the painter Eugene Morley. They divorced a few years later, but his connection to abstract expressionism and to the New York School of painting was a lasting influence on her poetry. She wrote major poems that are inspired by individual works of visual art. Through Eugene Morley she became friends with Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, David Smith, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning. Philip Guston would watch her from his studio window, and declared that she was his muse.

In 1952, she married the German composer, Stefan Wolpe, who through Morley was introduced to the abstract expressionist art scene. Wolpe taught at Black Mountain College, where Morley was given a teaching post, she maintained that the atmosphere at the college was not favorable to women, although she enjoyed her time there. At Black Mountain, Wolpe and Morley became close friends with John Cage, David Tudor, Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg. Wolpe and Morley traveled widely in Europe as Wolpe taught at Darmstadt and had a residency in Rome. Wolpe developed Parkinson's Disease in 1964, and Morley's life was greatly affected by her need to care for him until his death in 1972. Morley's understanding of her own art was greatly influenced by her life with Wolpe and he and his music are a major theme of her work.

Though she had been writing poetry since a young age, it was not until 1976 (at the age of 60) that her first collection, A Blessing Outside Us, was published through the efforts of Denise Levertov. She had five volumes of poetry published within her lifetime, and another after her death. Her poetry is in free verse and is involved with life and living, as well as a powerful collection dealing with the death and mourning of Wolpe, "What Are Winds and What Are Waters". Despite comparisons to Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, critical praise and numerous prizes, her work is not widely known.

After living in New York for three decades Morley moved to Sag Harbor on Long Island for most of her last decade. In 1997, she returned to London, which had been a long time wish, where she died on March 23, 1998 after a fall.

Poetry:

A Blessing Outside Us, (1976); To Hold in my Hand, (1983); What Are Winds and What Are Waters, (1983); Cloudless at First, (1988); Between the Rocks, (1992); The Turning, (1998)

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