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Born in Baksha, near Suvalk, Poland. He immigrated to America for good (after two brief attempts) in 1886 with his wife and two children. He worked as a tailor in a sweatshop in New York. He began publishing his first Yiddish poems in 1886 and quickly made a name for himself as not only a socialist poet, but a poet who captures the daily pain and suffering in the sweatshop. Rosenfeld became the most popular American Yiddish writer of his time, and in all the sweatshops and factories, Jews sang his songs and recited his poetry. One example of his popular songs is "Mayn yingele" [My boy]. After the Harvard Professor, Leo Weiner translated his poetry into English in a book entitled Songs from the Ghetto in 1898, the poet experienced brief fame in Europe where he was translated into German and Polish. The German edition featured the art of E.M. Lilien and his moving illustrations. This fame was short-lived and Rosenfeld had to change jobs and move around many times. In his later years, he felt embittered that the Yiddish literary world had forgotten him, but the people still sang his songs and held him in high regard. |