Rhina Espaillat facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rhina Espaillat
Born	(1932-01-20) January 20, 1932 (age 93) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Occupation	Poet
Alma mater	Hunter College Queens College

Rhina Polonia Espaillat (born January 20, 1932) is a talented poet and translator from the Dominican Republic. She writes in both English and Spanish. Rhina Espaillat is known for her connection to a poetry style called New Formalism in American poetry. She has published many books of her own poems. Her work has also appeared in popular collections like The Heath Introduction to Poetry and The Muse Strikes Back.

Rhina Espaillat was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Her family had a mix of backgrounds, including Afro-Dominican, Spanish, French, and Arawak roots. During World War II, her family became refugees and moved to New York City. She grew up in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.

Rhina Espaillat had her first poems published when she was just 15 years old. At 16, she became the youngest person ever to join the Poetry Society of America. She is famous for writing sonnets that describe her family life. She calls these poems "snapshots." She also writes about the beauty of everyday routines. Some of her poems humorously retell stories from the Christian Bible and Classical mythology.

Even though she grew up when people expected immigrants to forget their old cultures, Rhina Espaillat is proud of her Latina heritage. She is also a feminist who is a loving wife and mother. She feels great American patriotism because the United States gave her family a safe home.

Espaillat is especially known for translating poems. She has translated Christian poetry by St. John of the Cross from Spanish into English. She has also translated many other important Spanish and Latin American poems. She has even translated poems by famous American poets like Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur into Spanish. Her translations of Robert Frost are praised for capturing his unique New England way of speaking.

In 2023, some of Espaillat's translations of Christian poems from around the world were published in a book called To Heaven's Rim: The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry. She even worked with former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on a poem from Middle Welsh.

After the 2020 United States presidential election, many famous American poets asked President-elect of the United States Joe Biden to choose Rhina Espaillat to read her poetry at his inauguration. However, Amanda Gorman was chosen instead.

Life Story

Family Background

Rhina Espaillat's family has a rich history. Her background includes Afro-Dominican, Spanish, French, and Arawak roots. Her father, Carlos Manuel Homero Espaillat Brache, was a Dominican diplomat. Her mother was Dulce María Batista.

Rhina's aunt, Rhina Espaillat Brache, started the first ballet school in La Vega. Her great-uncle and godfather was also a Dominican diplomat named Rafael Brache. Through her great-uncle, Rhina is a second-cousin to Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez. She is also related to Dominican President Ulises Espaillat. Her family line goes back to a French immigrant named François Espeillac.

Growing Up

Rhina Espaillat was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on January 20, 1932. At that time, the city was called Cuidad Trujillo. Soon after she was born, her parents took her back to their hometown of La Vega. This town was founded by Christopher Columbus in 1494.

In La Vega, the Espaillat family lived near an old fort. They were surrounded by many relatives and friends. This community loved art, music, and poetry. Rhina often visited relatives in her mother's hometown of Jarabacoa, which is now a popular vacation spot.

Rhina started writing poems in Spanish when she was only four years old. Her grandmother wrote down her first poems. She told Rhina that her poems were wonderful and that she was a true poet. Sadly, none of those very first poems still exist today.

In 1937, when Rhina was five, she went with her parents on a diplomatic trip to Washington, D.C. Her great-uncle, Rafael Brache, was in charge of the Dominican group there. Rhina's father was the group's secretary.

Rafael Brache had supported the leader Rafael Trujillo when he first came to power. Brache's job was to defend Trujillo's reputation. But in 1937, Trujillo ordered a terrible event that harmed many Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Rafael Brache was horrified. He wrote a letter to Trujillo saying he could not support such actions.

Rhina Espaillat later said that the dictator was "absolutely furious" about the letter. Because of this, the National Congress said that Rafael Brache and other critics were "unworthy Dominicans." Brache and Rhina's father knew they would be punished if they returned home. The United States Federal Government gave them political asylum, which meant they could stay safely in the U.S. Both families then moved to New York City.

During this time, Rhina's mother had a miscarriage. After she recovered, she decided to secretly return to the Dominican Republic. She wanted to leave Rhina with her paternal grandmother in La Vega. She then said goodbye to her own family and returned to the U.S. without being noticed by Trujillo's police.

For the next two years, Rhina was raised by her grandmother and aunts in La Vega. Spanish poetry was often recited aloud there. Her grandmother also played Spanish classical guitar. Rhina says these experiences made her "much more of an ear poet than an eye poet." In 1939, Rhina joined her parents in a New York City apartment in Hell's Kitchen.

Life as a Refugee

As a young child, Rhina quickly learned English. She adapted to the busy city life of wartime Manhattan. But she deeply missed her family in the Dominican Republic.

In an interview, Rhina remembered that her father explained that many people were like them. They were running from bad leaders. He said, "The world is full of people just like Rafael Trujillo."

Rhina's parents loved to read literature and history in Spanish. From age five, Rhina listened to her father recite poems constantly. He recited Spanish poems from different time periods. She heard poems by Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Her father made her speak only Castilian Spanish at home. He also insisted she speak both English and Spanish correctly. He did not allow her to mix the languages. Even though this was frustrating for young Rhina, she is now thankful. She says it made her "truly bilingual."

While in elementary school, Rhina often visited the public library. She found a poetry book called A Treasury of Great Poems English and American. She loved it and asked her parents to buy it. The book cost $3.75, which was a lot for a refugee family in 1943. Her godfather, Rafael Brache, bought it for her as a Christmas gift.

Rhina called receiving this book "another turning point in my life." She said, "I ate it up! It's such a marvellous book, and it became my poetic Bible." Decades later, the book is still one of her most treasured possessions. She described it as "bandaged with tape but miraculously still in one piece."

Rhina started writing poems in English when she was eight. Her first poem that still exists, First Snowfall, was written when she was ten.

Early Success

When Rhina was fifteen, her high school English teacher, Catherine Haydon Jacobs, noticed her poems. Without Rhina knowing, her teacher sent them to The Ladies Home Journal. Rhina was shocked to get a letter saying three of her poems were accepted. She thought, "This can't be happening! This only happens to poets!"

After her first poems were published in November 1947, Rhina's poetry often appeared in The Ladies' Home Journal. She also had poems in a British magazine. She received many fan letters from people who loved her work.

Catherine Jacobs also sent Rhina's poems to the Poetry Society of America. The society changed its rules to accept Rhina. At 16, she became their youngest member ever.

When she was seventeen, Rhina received a fan letter from Southern Rhodesia. An admirer had translated one of her poems into Afrikaans and wanted to publish it. She received similar letters from poetry lovers in the United States and other countries like Manila, Berlin, and London.

During this time, Rhina also helped a young girl who wrote to her from Occupied Germany. The girl's father was serving in the U.S. military there. This led to a lasting friendship between them.

A Time of Quiet

Rhina Espaillat studied English, Latin, and Humanities at Hunter College. She graduated in 1953. In 1952, she married Alfred Moskowitz. After her marriage, she spent less time with the Poetry Society of America. She worked as a public school teacher and raised her two sons in Flushing, Queens. During her long break from writing poetry, she received much support from Alfred Dorn, who later helped start New Formalism.

After the leader Rafael Trujillo was removed from power in the Dominican Republic in 1961, Rhina's relatives could finally visit her in the United States. Her cousins visited her, her husband, and their two sons in Flushing, Queens. Rhina wrote about these visits in her poem Translation.

Rhina's great-uncle, Rafael Brache, and his family returned to the Dominican Republic. But Rhina's parents stayed in the U.S. Rhina said, "I was married with children and my parents didn't want to leave us." She added that by 1961, her parents' lives were focused on the U.S.

In 1964, Rhina earned her master's degree from Queens College.

Rhina and her husband taught English in New York City public schools for many years. She taught at Jamaica High School in Queens. In 1990, she retired early. She and her husband moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts, to be closer to their sons and grandchildren. Their foster son stayed in New York City. Rhina loved teaching but missed poetry. Her husband encouraged her to retire early and focus on what she loved. In Newburyport, Rhina started writing poetry again. She also led the Powow River Poets, a local poetry group. Under her leadership, it became a New Formalist group.

Return to Poetry

In 1995, Rhina Espaillat attended the first West Chester University Poetry Conference. This conference was started by New Formalist poets Michael Peich and Dana Gioia. Rhina remembered, "I was the only Hispanic there, but I realized that these people were open to everything." She saw that they cared most about the craft of poetry.

Rhina began teaching classes on different poetry forms, including French, Spanish, and Hispanic styles. She taught forms like the décima and the ovillejo. Because of her teaching, the ovillejo became very popular among younger New Formalist poets writing in English. Rhina happily said that "everybody loves it."

Since returning to poetry, Rhina Espaillat's work has appeared in many journals like Poetry and The American Scholar. She has won the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award twice. Her second poetry book, Where Horizons Go, was published in 1998 after she won the T. S. Eliot Prize. Her 2001 book, Rehearsing Absence, was published after she won the Richard Wilbur Award.

Literary Achievements

Literary Translator

Rhina Espaillat writes poems in both English and Spanish. She has translated poems by Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur into Spanish.

About translating Frost, Espaillat said it was hard to translate his unique New Hampshirese style. But she was happy with her shorter translations. She felt that past Spanish translations of Frost were not good, especially those that changed his rhyming poems into free verse.

Espaillat's translations of Frost keep his rhymes and rhythm. They also find ways to translate his unique language. For this work, she received the Tree at My Window Award from the Robert Frost Foundation. Ten of her translations are even displayed along the Robert Frost Trail in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Rhina Espaillat has also translated many Spanish and Latin American poems into English. She has translated poems by Dominican poets like Quiterio Berroa y Canelo [es] and Manuel del Cabral.

She has also translated poems by other Dominican-Americans. From other Latin American countries, she has translated works by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Gabriela Mistral. From Spain, she has translated poems by Saint John of the Cross and Miguel Hernández.

Espaillat has also translated poems from Portuguese, Catalan, Middle French, Middle Welsh, Renaissance Latin, Czech, and Tagalog.

Rhina Espaillat believes translation is very important. She said, "I can't imagine a world without translation because we'd have no Bible, no Homer, and no Virgil." She believes translators must be humble and try to understand the original poet's thoughts. Her main goal is to move the poem from one language to another with as little change as possible.

Latina Writer

Rhina Espaillat grew up when people expected immigrants to fully blend into American culture. But she does not agree with the idea of only speaking English. She encourages bilingualism among immigrant families. She tells young Hispanic people to keep their Spanish strong and to translate between languages. She says, "We need you! Both languages need you to bridge the gap."

Espaillat says the music of the Spanish classical guitar, which her grandmother played, greatly influenced her poetry. She also mentioned the music of composer Joaquín Rodrigo as a very important influence.

Even though she uses both languages in her poem Bilingual/Bilingüe, she does not like Spanglish (mixing Spanish and English). She believes both Spanish and English are important "world languages" and deserve to be spoken and written correctly.

Personal Life

Rhina Espaillat met her husband, Alfred Moskowitz, at a wedding in 1951. She was a junior in college. She said, "he proposed five weeks later on New Year's Eve, and we were married in June of 1952." Rhina was 21 when they married.

Alfred Moskowitz was the son of Romanian Jewish immigrants. He was an industrial arts teacher, a labor union organizer, and a sculptor. He grew up in The Bronx speaking Yiddish. He fought as a 19-year-old soldier in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. His experiences in the war gave their home a sense of realism.

Rhina and Alfred had many conversations about their different backgrounds. They wondered how small choices in their lives could have changed everything. Rhina said, "In life, we never know when the important things are going to happen."

After they married, Alfred and Rhina Moskowitz moved to an apartment in Flushing, Queens. They both continued teaching in New York City's public school system.

The Moskowitzes were also very active in the United Federation of Teachers. Rhina remembered that their house was often a meeting place for union activities. This experience made them very loyal to the labor movement. They believed in protecting workers' rights across all groups of people.

Alfred Moskowitz allowed Rhina to keep publishing her poems under her maiden name, Espaillat. But in legal papers, she always signed as Mrs. Alfred Moskowitz.

The Moskowitzes also took part in the American Civil Rights Movement. They also protested against the Vietnam War.

They were married for many decades until Alfred died in February 2016. They had three sons.

In a 2017 interview, Rhina Espaillat talked about losing her husband. She said it was hard to feel like a whole person after 63 years of a happy marriage. She believes that feminism is not about being alone. Instead, it is about being important to others and opening doors for them. She said, "Whatever good you do in the world makes you a person."

Current Views

Rhina Espaillat has strong opinions about poetry and society. She does not like political poetry. She believes poetry should not be used to change political systems or fix the economy. She thinks poets can express their feelings, but poetry should not be used for political slogans.

According to Leslie Monsour, Rhina approaches issues of social injustice with irony or clever ideas. This fits her love for Baroque literature and Metaphysical poets.

In a 2017 interview, Rhina Espaillat criticized the political polarization in the United States. She believes that if people focus only on their own groups, they will not succeed. She said, "I think we need to become a whole tapestry of people who are fighting for all rights." She believes people should not throw "rocks at anybody," even those who seem like enemies.

After the 2020 United States presidential election, over 70 poets asked President-elect of the United States Joe Biden to choose Rhina Espaillat to read her poetry at his inauguration.

Her biographer, Silvio Torres-Saillant, said Rhina has a very understanding view of people. He noted that she can talk about difficult parts of American history with empathy.

Before Amanda Gorman was chosen for the inauguration, Espaillat was asked if she would want to do it. She replied, "Do chickens have lips?" She explained her deep gratitude for the United States. She said, "This country saved us from a lot of grief. It has given me everything that I really love in the world."

In a January 2021 interview, Espaillat praised members of the Republican Party who urged Donald Trump to accept the election results. She believes that no democracy can survive with only one party. She said, "We need something to argue over because that is the way that we arrive at the right way to do things."

In the same interview, Espaillat expressed hope that Americans can overcome their political differences. She said, "This is a country that is full of good people who have welcomed immigrants like me in the past." She added, "I believe in the Statue of Liberty, I believe in the torch."

See also

In Spanish: Rhina Espaillat para niños