Isaac Rosenberg

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Isaac Rosenberg
Pas-de-Calais
, France
Cause of deathKilled in action
OccupationPoet, artist

Isaac Rosenberg (25 November 1890 – 1 April 1918) was an

First World War.[1]

Early life

Isaac Rosenberg was born in

He became interested in both poetry and

Christopher Nevinson.[5] He was taken up by Laurence Binyon and Edward Marsh, and began to write poetry seriously, but he suffered from ill-health.[1] He published a pamphlet of ten poems, Night and Day, in 1912. He also exhibited paintings at the Whitechapel Gallery
in 1914.

Afraid that his chronic bronchitis would worsen, Rosenberg hoped to cure himself by relocating in 1914 to the warmer climate of South Africa, where his sister Mina lived in Cape Town.[1] The Jewish Educational Aid Society of London helped by paying the fare.

After arriving in Cape Town in the end of June 1914,[3] he composed a poem "On Receiving News of the War". While many wrote about war as patriotic sacrifice, Rosenberg was critical of it from the outset. However, feeling better and hoping to find employment as an artist in Britain, Rosenberg returned home in March 1915.[3] He published a second collection of poems, Youth and then after being unable to find a permanent job enlisted in the British Army at the end of October 1915.[3] He asked that half of his pay be sent to his mother.[6]

In a personal letter, Rosenberg described his attitude towards war, "I never joined the army for patriotic reasons. Nothing can justify war. I suppose we must all fight to get the trouble over."[7]

First World War

Private Rosenberg, personal service number 22311

Rosenberg was assigned to the 12th Bantam Battalion of the

King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment (KORL). He was sent with his unit to serve on the Western Front in France, where he arrived on 3 June 1916.[3] He continued to write poetry while serving in the trenches, including "Break of Day in the Trenches", "Returning We Hear the Larks", and "Dead Man's Dump". In December 1916, Poetry Magazine published two of his poems.[3]

In January 1917, Rosenberg reported being sick and his family and friends asked his superiors to remove him from the front lines; he was transferred to the Fortieth Division Works Battalion and started to deliver barbed wire to the trenches.[3] He wrote his poem Dead Man's Dump during this period.

In June, he was temporarily assigned to the 229 Field Company, Royal Engineers. In September 1916, he spent ten days in London on leave.[3] After returning to his old unit, he fell sick in October and spent two months in the 51st General Hospital. After release, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.[3] He applied for a transfer to one of the all-Jewish battalions formed in Mesopotamia, but historians have been unable to trace his application.[8]

On 21 March 1918, the German Army started its

Pas de Calais, France.[9] Rosenberg's gravestone is marked with his name and the words, "Buried near this spot", as well as – "Artist and Poet".[3]

Legacy

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Moorcroft Wilson, Jean (8 November 2003). "Visions from the trenches". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2009. Isaac Rosenberg was one of the finest and most distinctive poets of the first world war.
  2. ^ Charles Tomlinson, Isaac Rosenberg of Bristol (Bristol Historical Association pamphlets, no. 53), pp. 1-4
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vivien Noakes (Editor.) Isaac Rosenberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. See: Chronological Summary of Isaac Rozenberg's Life, pp. XXYII – XXXYI. During discussions of immigration issues in the House of Commons it was revealed that in Boys Department of the Baker Street Board School, Stepney, in 1901, there were "280 foreigners as against 29 English" pupils. — Great Britain. Parliament. – 1902, p. 1274
  4. ^ Sewell, Brian (25 April 2008). "Who was Isaac Rosenberg?". This is London. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  5. .
  6. ^ The Forgotten Jewish Great War Poet, Revived: Long-gone writer is introduced to new readers with the help of graphic art, Tablet, 8 January 2015.
  7. ^ Field, F. (1991). British and French writers of the First World War: Comparative studies in cultural history. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, p. 235.
  8. ^ Wilson, J. M. (2009). Isaac Rosenberg: The making of a great war poet: a new life. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press.
  9. ^ "Rosenberg, Isaac – Private, 1st Bn., King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 1 April 2009. Son of Barnet and Annie Rosenberg, of 87, Dempsey St., Stepney, London. Born in Bristol. Some critics of the time considered Rosenberg the best of the war poets after Wilfred Owen.
  10. ^ "Portrait NPG 4129 – Isaac Rosenberg". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  11. ^ "Self-Portrait by Isaac Rosenberg". Tate Online. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  12. ^ "EL unveils plaque to Isaac Rosenberg". Emanuel-litvinoff.com. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  13. ^ "Poets of the Great War". net.lib.byu.edu. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  14. ^ "Preface". net.lib.byu.edu. Retrieved 1 April 2009.

External links