Since 1947, 18 of America's Pulitzer Prize-winning poets and Poet Laureates have been Jewish. Truly, Jewish poets have been a rich part of the American literary landscape.
Since 1980, the poetry written by and about the Jewish people shows pronounced differences from earlier Jewish American poetry, reflecting changes in the collective Jewish American self-image. Much of this change has to do with a change in the speaker's mood, tone, tenor and attitude. That shift has primarily moved from sorrowful determination to survive to optimism and confidence.
Charles Reznikoff Represents Early 20th Century Jewish-American Poetry
Jewish poetry from the first half of the 20th century reverberates the tone and tenor of the Jewish self-image of that generation: sorrowful, morally strong, perhaps resigned to a perpetual narrative of suffering.
Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976) has been called "the most important Jewish-American poet of his generation," by Sanford Pinsker in his recent review of Reznikoff's works. Reznikoff's parents, like many of his generation, were Russian Jewish immigrants who had fled the pogroms. The following two poems, published in By the Waters of Manhattan, in1931 and republished in 1962, express the determination of the Jewish people to survive, despite perpetual persecution:
"Let Other People Come as Streams"
Let other people come as streams
That overflow a valley
And leave dead bodies, uprooted trees and fields of sand;
We Jews are as the dew,
On every blade of grass,
Trodden under foot today
And here tomorrow morning.
....
"I Will Write Songs Against You"
I will write songs against you,
Enemies of my people; I will pelt you
With the winged seeds of the dandelion;
I will marshal against you
The fireflies of the dusk.
Marge Piercy Represents Contemporary Jewish American Poetry
The poetry of Jewish Americans, starting around 1980 reflects a pronounced change in the self-image and tone of the Jewish people themselves. Having established a land of their own; living in relative success and acceptance in the United States and elsewhere, Jewish poets began to take on a more optimistic tone. In addition, some of the poetry since the 1980s also reflects a return to more open Jewish practice and ritual that comes with the confidence that being 'different' does not necessarily incur danger or disdain. Poet Marge Piercy's poetry is representative of this more contemporary Jewish American poetry.
Marge Piercy was born March 31, 1936 in Detroit. She has published 15 collections of poetry, as well as several novels. The following poem is found in her book, The Art of Blessing the Day, published in 1999. Notice the sense of connection, inclusion, and optimism in this poem, and the lack of reference to torment or persecution.
The title is somewhat ironic, as the Kaddish is the prayer spoken to honor the dead, by mourners. The actual Kaddish, like this poetic version of it, never mentions death but instead praises God and God's works.
"Kaddish"
Look around us, search above us, below, behind.
We stand in a great web of being joined together.
Let us praise, let us love the life we are lent
passing through us in the body of Israel
and our own bodies, let's say amen.
Time flows through us like water.
The past and the dead speak through us.
We breathe out our children's children, blessing.
Blessed is the earth from which we grow,
Blessed the life we are lent,
blessed the ones who teach us,
blessed the ones we teach,
blessed is the word that cannot say the glory
that shines through us and remains to shine
flowing past distant suns on the way to forever.
Let's say amen.
Blessed is light, blessed is darkness,
but blessed above all else is peace
which bears the fruits of knowledge
on strong branches, let's say amen.
Peace that bears joy into the world,
peace that enables love, peace over Israel
everywhere, blessed and holy is peace, let's say amen. (1999)
Of course, there are large variations and myriad nuances to the Jewish-American literary canon. It is complex and many-layered. But interested readers of Jewish literature would do well to note the changes in the tone and tenor, mood and voice of Jewish literature, as reflections of the changing historical contexts. The reader is encouraged to delve more deeply into these two poets, as well as others of the large Jewish-American panoply of poets.
Sources:
- The Voice that is Great Within Us: American Poetry of the Twentieth Century. Ed. Hayden Carruth. Bantam Books: 1970.
- Marge Piercy. The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme. Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 2000.
- "Charles Reznikoff," Poets.Org.
- " The Holocaust, Charles Reznikoff, and Found Poetry." New Jersey Jewish News Online. http://www.njjewishnews.com
Leah Abramovitz - Laura Bernell, Professional Writer since 1984; Community College Adjunct English Instructor since 1982.
