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334:. Dropkin had only one volume of poems published in her lifetime, In heysn vint (In the Hot Wind) in 1935. After that she took up painting and may have completely stopped writing poetry. She was considered a gifted natural artist and her paintings won amateur competitions. She spent significant time during these years in
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Both her poems and short stories reflect her biography but are not identical to it. She wrote many poems of nature and several evoking places she visited or lived. A large number of poems relate to her children or children in general, one of which was set to music as a lullaby by
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for publication in
Yiddish literary journals beginning in 1917. For many years she was a regular contributor to a wide variety of journals; she also wrote stories and a serialized novel to earn money, but was more interested in poetry.
372:), which portrays the deep ambivalence of both the acrobat and her audience in matters of life and death. This poem has been translated in English at least nine times. Several of her poems have been set to music by Dropkin,
259:, employ free verse much of the time; and she believed any subject matter was appropriate for Yiddish poetry, not only specifically Jewish ones. Her deeply personal poems, however, tended to put off male critics such as
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references, a common device among male
Yiddish and Hebrew writers of the age. "Dropkin's stature in Yiddish literature is groundbreaking in its candor about sex, love, death and relationships between men and women."
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when
Dropkin was young. Dropkin, with her mother and sister, were taken in by wealthy relatives. Dropkin exhibited intellectual abilities at a young age. She attended Russian-language school and
296:. However, she is best known for her erotic poems related to passion, sexuality and depression. Her poems express longing, guilt, fury, even violence, and include frank explorations of
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The last poem published in her lifetime was the 1953 "Fun Ergets Ruft a Fayfl" (From
Somewhere a Whistle Calls), an ode to her long-dead friend Zishe Landau, which appeared in
863:
Hellerstein, Kathryn (1992). "From 'Ikh' to 'Zikh': A Journey from 'I' to 'Self' in
Yiddish Poems by Women". In Sokoloff, Naomi; Lerner, Anne Lapidus; Norich, Anita (eds.).
419:
Selection of poems: "I Am
Drowning", "You Plowed My Fertile Soil", "My Mother", "The Circus Lady", "Adam", "", ", and "Sonya's room". In: Jules Chametzky et al. (Eds.),
182:
353:
comprise the vast majority of her output, although there are poems among her personal papers and in literary journals that have not yet been collected or translated.
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388:, and contains about half her total work. The first English-language collection of her poems was published in 2014 by Tebot Bach Press, under the title
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232:, before returning permanently to New York in the late 1930s. In 1943 her husband died unexpectedly; after this event her output slowed considerably.
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409:. Huntington Beach, CA: Tebot Bach, 2014. Texts in Yiddish and English. Translated by Faith Jones, Jennifer Kronovet, and Samuel Solomon.
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in 1959, which includes previously uncollected poems, a selection of her stories, and paintings. The 150 poems in the second edition of
844:
Hadda, Janet (1992). "The Eyes Have It: Celia
Dropkin's Love Poetry". In Sokoloff, Naomi; Lerner, Anne Lapidus; Norich, Anita (eds.).
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references to a much greater extent than traditional Jewish ones. Like a number of other
Yiddish women writers, she uses few words of
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267:. Her social world overlapped with members of many literary movements. She was a close friend of poet
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origin, for reasons that appear to involve a specific rejection of a literary idiom replete with
255:) movement, her work does not adhere closely to that group's ethic. She did, in common with the
181:. She returned to Bobruysk in 1908, and shortly thereafter met and married Shmaye Dropkin, a
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translated by Anita Norich (White Goat Press, 2024). (Yiddish: Di tsvey gefiln). Originally
456:"The Dancer" (Di tentserin). Translated by Shirley Kumove. In: Frieda Forman et al. (Eds.),
143:
to an assimilated
Russian-Jewish family. In Yiddish her name was Zipporah Levine, and later
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969:
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Zucker, Sheva (1996). "The Red Flower—Rebellion and Guilt in the Poetry of Celia
Dropkin".
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Beautiful as the Moon, Radiant as the Stars: Jewish Women in Yiddish Stories: an Anthology
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Jones, Faith; Solomon, Samuel (2007). "Celia Dropkin". In Sherman, Joseph (ed.).
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the family moved frequently in search of work. They lived for several years in
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441:"At the Rich Relatives". Translated by Faith Jones. In: Sandra Bark (Ed.),
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Hirsch, Edward; Jones, Faith; Kronovet, Jennifer; Solomon, Samuel (2014).
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384:. A book of translations into French was published in Paris in 1994 as
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886:. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 333. Detroit: Gale.
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627:"How Yiddish Scholars Are Rescuing Women's Novels From Obscurity"
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to continue her studies, and there came under the influence of
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Poems by Celia Dropkin, translated by Kathryn Hellerstein
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A list of Dropkin's books at The New York Public Library
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Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
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Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
288:, who also refused to adhere to a single poetic model.
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Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
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Dropkin died of cancer in 1956, and was buried in the
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section of Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York.
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November 23] 1887 – August 18, 1956) was a
189:. Because of his political activities, he fled to
774:"Celia Dropkin's Paintings | Yiddish Book Center"
458:Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers
161:(high school), after which she taught briefly in
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750:"Invisible Desire: Celia Dropkin (1888 - 1956)"
540:Jewish American Literature: a Norton Anthology
421:Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology
345:Her children published an expanded edition of
518:The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
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407:The Acrobat: Selected Poems of Celia Dropkin
390:The Acrobat: Selected Poems of Celia Dropkin
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688:"Fully Loaded: The Poetry of Celia Dropkin"
799:"Funny How a Poem Can Get Under Your Skin"
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985:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
827:The National Library Newspaper Collection
177:. Under his tutelage she wrote poetry in
193:in 1910, leaving Dropkin and their son (
652:"Mrs. Celia Dropkin, Artist and Writer"
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903:Studies in American Jewish Literature
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489:from March 31, 1934 to June 6, 1934.
460:. Toronto: Second Story Press, 1994.
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929:Guide to the Papers of Celia Dropkin
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247:While often associated with the
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591:Field, Rachel (March 5, 2015).
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797:Wisse, Ruth R. (2017-03-27).
692:The Virginia Quarterly Review
542:. Norton. 2001. p. 257.
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356:Dropkin's best-known poem is
284:. She also was friendly with
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1000:Jews from the Russian Empire
956:digital library (in Yiddish)
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980:20th-century American poets
593:"The Life of Celia Dropkin"
423:. New York: Norton, 2001.
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823:"Forverts, March 31, 1934"
378:Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band
208:, translating many of her
127:poet, writer, and artist.
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778:www.yiddishbookcenter.org
726:"Why Read Celia Dropkin?"
200:Dropkin became active in
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597:Mapping Yiddish New York
520:. Jewish Women's Archive
300:. Her imagery includes
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112:, December 5 [
1025:Translators to Yiddish
803:Jewish Review of Books
512:Hellerstein, Kathryn.
165:. In 1907 she went to
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728:. Yiddish Book Center
1020:People from Babruysk
1015:Jewish women writers
995:American women poets
396:Works in translation
135:Dropkin was born in
954:Yiddish Book Center
950:Celia Dropkin books
487:The Yiddish Forward
195:John Joseph Dropkin
941:(Fall/Winter 2004)
884:Writers in Yiddish
867:. New York: JTSA.
848:. New York: JTSA.
656:The New York Times
631:The New York Times
386:Dans le Vent Chaud
175:Uri Nissan Gnessin
893:978-0-7876-8151-7
874:978-0-674-34198-2
855:978-0-674-34198-2
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571:Yiddishkayt
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362:The Acrobat
331:Di Tsukunft
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909:: 99–117.
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338:and the
322:Talmudic
318:Biblical
281:Di Yunge
226:Virginia
149:forester
137:Bobruysk
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436:Stories
336:Florida
314:Aramaic
249:In Zikh
220:During
214:Yiddish
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191:America
179:Russian
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118:Russian
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
