Lazarus, Emma. Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death, and other Poems

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

The American Hebrew

New York

1882

FIRST EDITION

Poetess Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) was born to a New York Sephardic family. She is best remembered for her iconic sonnet “The New Colossus” which in 1903 was inscribed on the pedestal of the Staue of Liberty. The present collection includes passionate Jewish poems including “The Dance to Death,” a tragic play about the burning of the Jews in Thuringia during the era of the Black Death. The play is dedicated to the memory of George Eliot, “the illustrious writer who did most among the artists of our day towards elevating and ennobling the spirit of Jewish nationality.” See JTSA Catalogue, People of Faith, Land of Promise (2004) pp. 112-3