Born in
New York City as
Samuel Menashe Weisberg, Menashe grew up in
Elmhurst, Queens, and graduated from
Townsend Harris High School and from
Queens College, where he majored in biochemistry. During
World War II he served in the US Army
infantry, where he received a Ph.D. for the thesis ''Un essai sur l'expérience poétique (étude introspective)'' in 1950. In the 1950s, Menashe returned to New York where, except for frequent sojourns in
England and
Ireland, he lived most of his life. In 1961, he garnered the blessing of the British poet
Kathleen Raine who arranged for his first book,
The Many Named Beloved, to be published by
Victor Gollancz in London. who became one of Menashe's most committed backers. He was later included in the
Penguin Modern Poets series. In 2004 he became the first poet honored with the "Neglected Masters Award" ==Bibliography==