Died in New Milford, Connecticut

Marya Zaturenska died on January 19, 1982, in New Milford, Connecticut, at the age of 79. Her death marked the passing of one of the last surviving members of a generation of American lyric poets who had come to prominence between the World Wars.

By the time of her death, Zaturenska had published numerous volumes of poetry, edited important anthologies, and, together with her husband Horace Gregory, co-written the influential critical study A History of American Poetry, 1900–1940 (1946). Her New York Times obituary highlighted her identity as a 'lyric poet' and noted her distinction as a Pulitzer Prize recipient, underscoring how central that 1938 award remained to her public legacy even four decades later.

Her death was widely noted in literary circles and obituaries, including in the New York Times, which memorialized her contributions to American letters. She left behind an substantial body of work, including her Pulitzer Prize–winning collection Cold Morning Sky, later collections such as The Golden Mirror (1944) and Selected Poems (1954), and her diaries, later published posthumously by Syracuse University Press as The Diaries of Marya Zaturenska, 1938–1944, offering scholars an intimate view into the literary world of mid-century America.