The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume II

Jewish Poems and Translations

Emma Lazarus

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9780486799896
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

New York City–based poet Emma Lazarus (1849–87) is best known for "The New Colossus," which is inscribed upon the base of the Statue of Liberty. The highly respected writer and intellectual corresponded with Ralph Waldo Emerson and was an advocate for indigent Jewish refugees and a forerunner of the Zionist movement. This two-volume edition of The Poems of Emma Lazarus marks the work's first major reappearance since its last printing in 1900.
Volume II features verse with historic Jewish themes as well as translations of eleventh-century Hebrew poetry and works by Heinrich Heine, Petrarch, and Alfred de Musset. Selections include "The New Ezekiel," "The Feast of Lights," "1492," "By the Waters of Babylon: Little Poems in Prose," "Longing for Jerusalem," and many other poems. Volume I, available separately, features epochs, sonnets, and naturalist poems as well as the celebrated "The New Colossus."

THE DANCE TO DEATH;

A HISTORICAL TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS.

This play is dedicated, in profound veneration and respect, to the memory of George Eliot, the illustrious writer, who did most among the artists of our day towards elevating and ennobling the spirit of Jewish nationality.

THE PERSONS.

FREDERICK THE GRAVE, Landgrave of Thuringia and Margrave of Meissen, Protector and Patron of the Free City of Nordhausen.

PRINCE WILLIAM OF MEISSEN, his son.

SÜSSKIND VON ORB, a Jew.

HENRY SCHNETZEN, Governor of Salza.

HENRY NORDMANN OF NORDMANNSTEIN, Knight of Treffurt.

REINHARD PEPPERCORN, Prior of Wartburg Monastery.

RABBI JACOB.

DIETRICH VON TETTENBORN, President of the Council.

REUBEN VON ORB, a boy, Süsskind’s son.

BARUCH,		Jews.
NAPHTALI,

RABBI CRESSELIN.

LAY-BROTHER.

PAGE.

PUBLIC SCRIVENER.

PRINCESS MATHILDIS, wife to Frederick.

LIEBHAID VON ORB.

CLAIRE CRESSELIN.

Jews, Jewesses, Burghers, Senators, Citizens, Citizen’s Wife and Boy, Flagellants, Servants, Guardsmen.

Scene—Partly in Nordhausen, partly in Eisenach. Time, May, 4th, 5th, 6th, 1349.

ACT I.—In Nordhausen.

SCENE I.

A street in the Judengasse, outside the Synagogue. During this Scene Jews and Jewesses, singly and in groups, with prayer-books in their hands, pass across the stage, and go into the Synagogue. Among them, enter BARUCH and NAPHTALI.

NAPHTALI.

Hast seen him yet?

BARUCH.

Nay; Rabbi Jacob’s door

Swung to behind him, just as I puffed up

O’erblown with haste. See how our years weigh, cousin.

Who’d judge me with this paunch a temperate man,

A man of modest means, a man withal

Scarce overpast his prime? Well, God be praised,

If age bring no worse burden! Who is this stranger?

Simon the Leech tells me he claims to bear

Some special message from the Lord—no doubt

To-morrow, fresh from rest, he’ll publish it

Within the Synagogue.

NAPHTALI.

To-morrow, man?

He will not hear of rest—he comes anon—

Shall we within?

BARUCH.

Rather let’s wait,

And scrutinize him as he mounts the street.

Since you denote him so remarkable,

You’ve whetted my desire.

NAPHTALI.

A blind, old man,

Mayhap is all you 11 find him—spent with travel,

His raiment fouled with dust, his sandaled feet

Road-bruised by stone and bramble. But his face!—

Majestic with long fall of cloud-white beard,

And hoary wreath of hair—oh, it is one

Already kissed by angels.

BARUCH.

Look, there limps

Little Manasseh, bloated as his purse,

And wrinkled as a frost-pinched fruit. I hear

His last loan to the Syndic will result

In quadrupling his wealth. Good Lord! what luck

Blesses some folk, while good men stint and sweat

And scrape, to merely fill the household larder.

What said you of this pilgrim, Naphtali?

These inequalities of fortune rub

My sense of justice so against the grain,

I lose my very name. Whence does he come?

Is he alone?

NAPHTALI.

He comes from Chinon, France.

Rabbi Cresselin he calls himself—alone

Save for his daughter who has led him hither.

A beautiful, pale girl with round black eyes.

BARUCH.

Bring they fresh tidings of the pestilence?

NAPHTALI.

I know not—but I learn from other source

It has burst forth at Erfurt.

BARUCH.

God have mercy!

Have many of our tribe been stricken?

NAPHTALI.

No.

They cleanse their homes and keep their bodies sweet,

Nor cease from prayer—and so...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• The New Year
• The Crowing of The Red Cock
• In Exile
• In Memoriam—Rev. J. J. Lyons
• The Valley of Baca
• The Banner of The Jew
• The Guardian of The Red Disk
• The New Ezekiel
• The Choice
• The World’S Justice
• The Supreme Sacrifice
• The Feast of Lights
• Gifts
• Bar Kochba
• 1492
• The Birth of Man
• Raschi In Prague
• The Death of Raschi
• An Epistle
• By The Waters of Babylon: Little Poems In Prose
• To Carmen Sylva
• The Dance To Death
• Translations
• Nachum
• A Translation And Two Imitations
• Translations From Petrarch
• Translations From Alfred De Musset
• Notes To “Epistle” of Joshua Ibn Vives of Allorqui