LAZARUS, Emma, American poet; b. New York, 22 July 1849; d. there, 19 Nov. 1887. Trained at home under the personal direction of her father, Moses Lazarus, a New York mer chant of prominence in the social and busi ness world, she early displayed intellectual promise. From her childhood books were her most precious possession and her mind was turned to poetry for its utterance— the Civil War inspiring her first lyric outbursts. Her earliest productions, 'Poems and Translations> (1867), were marked by a seriousness if not sombreness, incomprehensible in one so young, whose life, too, was full of happy anticipations. In her second volume, four years later, there was more artistic completeness, and a certain consciousness of power gave more strength to her verse. Her 'Admetus and Other Poems' (1871) was favorably received, and its classic atmosphere showed distinct talent, while, side by side with its imaginings in 'Admetus> and (Trinnhauser> were its flashes of personal ex perience in 'Epochs> and the musical rhapsodies in 'Phantasies.) In 1874 her love for German literature was evidenced in her (Alide,) a story of Goethe's Sesenheim period, so far as its background is concerned, wherein she has ad mirably incorporated whole passages from the 'Autobiography' to give naturalness to the epi sode. It is a charming romance, which won high praise from Tourgeneffs as the work of one who "is not a pupil in art any more" and "is not far from being a master." Her next book printed for private circulation, The Spag noletto) (1876), a five-act tragedy of the 17th century, was remarkable at least for the new note in treatment, its stormy sweep of passion, so unlike the calm, reflective emotion of her poems. It was in 1878, when she was giving the finishing touches to translations from Heine, that a new theme was suggested to her — the translation into English of representative Jewish poets of the Spanish school. With en
thusiasm she responded to the appeal, and, de siring to reproduce the spirit of the original, studied Hebrew with rare diligence and soon grew independent of German paraphrase. The case with which mastered the medimval Jewish poets and the interest she displayed in Jewish history were preparations for a more important work. A little volume was shown her — 'Der Tanz zum Tod& by Reinhard, based on historical data furnished by Franz Delitzsch, as a more elaborate treatment. Her 'The Dance to Death' was the result, for which she was unable to find a publisher until it was issued as a serial in a Jewish weekly, and appeared about the time of the Russian Jewish persecution of 1882, although it was written without any reference to those out breaks. In the American movement to aid the refugees, she took a helpful part. She wrote for The Century (May 1882) an impassioned article, 'Russian Christianity versus Modern Judaism,' wherein she championed her brethren and refuted their critics and assailants. In prose and verse she further strove to vindicate her ancestral creed and inspire its followers to brotherhood and useful activity. In The Century fol. February 1883 she pleaded for "a restored and independent nationality and re patriation in Palestine?' After her father's death in March 1885 her own health failed slowly and the end came in November 1887, just at the time when her powers were ripest and her opportunities seemed at their greatest. In addition to the volumes already named she published 'Poems of Heinrich Heine' (1881) ; 'Songs of a Semite' ; 'The Dance to Death, and Other Poems> (1882). Her collected poems were issued in two volumes in 1889.