Lazarus, Emma. Admetus and Other Poems. New York Hurd and Houghton 1871
First Edition of the author's second book and first regularly published book. 8vo; (6), 230pp; rebound in new tan cloth with brown gilt-stamped label on spine, ex-library with perforated library stamp on title page at center ornament, ink numbers at bottom of Contents page, else no other library markings, 1/2" x 1-1/2" piece missing from top left edge of titlepage, text clean and sound. A scarce book in any condition. Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was born to a New York family of Sephardic Jews with roots from colonial times. Her first slender book, POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS which appeared in 1866 when she was seventeen, was privately printed by her father and primarily embraced the usual classical and romantic themes. ADMETUS, dedicated to Ralph Waldo Emerson (whom she regarded as her "guiding star"), followed when she was 22, and received with much critical praise in England as well as the U.S. Until 1881, she (according to NAW) "evinced no more than a nominal interest in Judaism or the Jewish past in this early period of her brief career." The persecution of the Jews in Russia, and a resultant immigration to the U.S., changed her outlook dramatically. She wrote poetry, plays, and articles for journals defending Jews and Judaism and criticizing Christians for allowing such persecution. She anticipated Zionism by at least a decade advocating a homeland for Jews. American Women Writers notes, "The title poem...retells in blank verse the myth of Alcestis, whose strength and courage saved her husband from death...the heroic willingness of Alcestis to sacrifice herself, as the substitute the Fates had demanded, becomes the crucial incident, and the portrait is a significant advance in the depiction of women in romantic poetry...". Other poems include one on Maine, the aftermath of the Civil War, "Epochs," "Florence Nightingale," and ""In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport." Lazarus was not only the most prominent American Jewish writer of her generation, but she was "an impassioned supporter of her people, of the downtrodden of all nations, and of her country and its literary accomplishments." - American Women Writers. In 1883 she visited Europe, meeting with leaders of the world Jewish community. She did much to help the Jewish immigrants in New York, such as playing a leading role in the founding of the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York. appearing in 1883) died a premature death at age 38.The famous lines from her poem "The New Colossus," written to raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty are inscribed on it: "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...". Gray, ed., She Wields a Pen, American Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century, pp. 213-218. NAW II, pp. 377-379. Umansky & Ashton, Eds., Three Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality, pp. 68-70 & 100-103. Feminist Companion to Literature in English, p. 638-639. NAW II, pp. 377-379. TIMELINES, p. 312.
$US500
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