Muriel Rukeyser was born on December 15, 1913, to Lawrence and Myra Lyons Rukeyser.[2] She attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, a private school in The Bronx, then Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. From 1930 to 1932, she attended Columbia University.
Her literary career began in 1935 when her book of poetry Theory of Flight, based on flying lessons she took, was chosen by the American poet Stephen Vincent Benét for publication in the Yale Younger Poets Series.
