Terris, Virginia R.

Virginia R. Terris was born in Brooklyn NY in 1917 and grew up in rural Chester NJ. She received her BA in English from the NJ College for Women (now Douglass College, part of Rutgers University) in 1938. After marrying, and while raising four children, she obtained a Master’s degree in English and American literature in 1965 from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and a PhD from New York University in New York City, New York in 1973, both on the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson. She joined the full-time faculty at Adelphi University where she taught English and American literature until her retirement as a full Professor in 1983.

Her academic writings dealt with general literary topics and were influenced by the growing interest in women’s studies during the 1960’s and 1970’s. In addition to editing a book on the teaching of poetry and an introductory essay for a collection of short stories, she also contributed biographies to an encyclopedia on American women writers and published essays on and reviews of the work of contemporary women poets. Her study of Mary MacLane was a natural extension of this interest. On the basis of MacLane’s books and her reportage in the New York World and other newspapers, Dr. Terris stressed the similarity of MacLane to American realists such as Twain, Crane, James, Dreiser, Garland and others while downplaying the sensationalism surrounding her life and works.

Poetry was Dr. Terris’ vocation and avocation. Her first published poem appeared in 1931 in a local NJ newspaper and she continued writing and publishing into her ninth decade. Over the years, her poems appeared in numerous journals (American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry J., Literary Review, The Nation, New Letters, The New Yorker, New York Times, Paris Review, Colorado State Review, Prairie Schooner, Descant and others) and were included in anthologies. She had a long-standing professional relationship with the poet, David Ignatow. She received the Gertrude B. Claytor Award from the Poetry Society of America for her poem: “The Bridge: Clark Fork, Missoula Montana, 1982”, and had residencies at both Yaddo and The Millay Colony for the Arts.

She gave many readings and workshops throughout the US and Sweden and hosted a radio program featuring contemporary poets. She was active in numerous local poetry organizations, including the Long Island division of the Poetry Society of America of which she was the director from 1983-88 and a member of the Board of Governors from 1989-1992. Other memberships included P.E.N. America, the Modern Language Association, the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association and others.

Virginia R. Terris died in Freeport, New York, on 12 January 2012. She was the wife of Albert, and the mother of four children.

Born in Canada in 1881, Mary MacLane came to Montana with her family in the 1890s. They eventually settled in Butte where Mary wrote for the school paper. Mary became a skilled and forceful writer. In 1902, at the age of 19, penned "The Life of Mary MacLane" which received national acclaim, but was also harshly criticized for its open discussions of sex. The book has been credited as one of the earliest confessional style memoirs. Mary went on to write several more books and articles. She died in Chicago in 1929.

From the guide to the Dr. Virginia R. Terris Research Collection, 1902-1982, (Montana Historical Society Research Center)