아이작 로젠버그의 유대주의 시

The Jewish Poetry of Isaac Rosenberg

Isaac Rosenberg(1890-1918) was born in Bristol, the son of poor Jewish immigrants from Lithuania The family moved to the East End of London when Rosenberg was seven. He showed early talent as a graphic artist. On leaving school at the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a firm of engravers. Private and institutional charity from Jewish sources subsequently enabled him to attend the Slade School of Art. During his time there he exhibited a few pictures without much success, and published his first small collection of poems Night and Day in 1912. The outbreak of the First World War found him in Cape Town, where he went in hope of being cured of a serious pulmonary illness. Returning to England early in 1915, privately he published his second volume of poems Youth. Towards the end of that year, he enlisted to help his family financially. He was sent to the front line and killed in action on 1 April 1918. Throughout his short life, Rosenberg was undecided as to whether he should devote himself chiefly to his painting or his poetry. Once he had joined the army， the matter was effectively settled for him: it became impossible for him to continue painting in the front line. Today he is best known as a war poet. However, most of his poems were virtually written before he went to the war, and were neglected from critical attention. Apart from his well-known “Trench Poems" his early poems have not been seriously examined, not to mention his biographical details. Through the examination of his poems in the light of his biographical background, this paper reveals that, though Rosenberg was much influenced by his English predecessors in the 19th century， his poeπY is chiefly concerned with his Jewish cultural heritage.