9 - Yiddish American Poetry

Summary

When comparing prose with poetry, what is perhaps most striking is the secondary role played by prose in the development of American Yiddish literature. Di Yunge's meetings became the birthplace of several initiatives that from 1907 onward would yield the first American Yiddish publications exclusively devoted to literature. The many diverse arguments in the Inzikh manifesto all strove to promote one primary goal: to expand the scope of Yiddish poetry in all its aspects. The anthology Amerikaner yidishe poezye featured the works of more than thirty poets, as a collective, cultural biography. The majority of these writers shared several fundamental traits such as their Jewish East European birthplaces. The interim years between the two world wars ought to be considered the golden era of Yiddish poetry in the United States. The years 1918-1920 saw two major developments: Di yunge collected a selection of their poetry in several books and the inzikhists exploded onto the literary scene.