author
Isaac Rosenberg
1890–1918
A gifted poet and artist from London’s East End, he transformed the harsh reality of World War I into some of the most vivid and unsettling trench poetry in English. His work is admired for its fierce imagination, emotional honesty, and refusal to romanticize war.
1 Audiobook
Poems by Isaac Rosenberg
by Isaac Rosenberg
About the author
Born in Bristol on November 25, 1890, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents, he grew up in poverty in London’s East End. Alongside writing, he trained as an artist and studied at the Slade School of Art, where he showed real promise as a painter.
Although he is now best known as a war poet, his path was unusual: he came to the First World War as both a visual artist and a writer, and that double gift helped shape the striking imagery of his poems. Pieces such as Break of Day in the Trenches helped secure his reputation as one of the most original voices to emerge from the war.
He was killed in France on April 1, 1918, at the age of 27. Much of his recognition grew after his death, and today he is remembered not only for poems from the front line, but also for the distinct perspective he brought as a working-class, Jewish poet and painter.