The Denver Jewish news., 1918-10-24
Books and Magazines

DOORS ana Magazines
Leon Mones, in American Weekly
Jewish News. gives the following in
toresting account of the Russian Yid-
dish Poet Frug.
He speaks of "Semion Grigoryerich
Frug. the lover of the beautiful, the
writer of exquisite Russlan lyrics
In the Jewish Encyclopedia Frug is
called ''onc of the most sympathetic
of Russo-Jewish poets Perhaps-in
n sense. Frug wrote in both Russian
and Iiddish. in Russian by preference
and in Iiddish by suffcrancc. If one
makes no distinction between his Rus
sian and Yiddish poetry, but consid-
crs both as the one product of the
poets fertility. then indeed, in the
yastncsS of the whole, harsh and caus-
tic invcctive diminishes in conspicu-
of sympathy. But. as matter of
fact. there is AS much difference be-
tween the Russian poetry and the iid-
dish poetry of Frug as there is he
tween the gentle humor of ain Addison
and the grim satire of u Swift.
Like many other men who wrote in
two languages. FJig has two produc-
tive minds. two creative imaginations.
The mental attitude which inspired his
Yiddish poetry. the force of motiva-
tion which directed it. the linguistic
feeling which gave it form, the esth-
etic sense which adorned it, We're all
entirely at variance with the CORES
ponding generative factors of his Rus
sian poetry.
Primarily FrGg was Russian. Par
ticularly so in externals. He says:
once did think that should rouse
My race. aud free him from his sleep,
And make his heart and ancient soul
Alive and fresh with passion deep.
That i should show him where doth lie
The righteous WAY, and see him led
To strength and life and light and joy
And should deck and crown his head.
And yet the reader may say, surely
this is tender, surely this is symp-
athletic No. it Is not sympathetic
for it makes no attempt to under
stand and interpret. and its tender
ness is the compassion of n superior.
Il l.,,.t 4, To.
True. ii has an ancient soul. but a
soporific one. Frug will wake IT.
point out to it the righteous way, then
finally. like an Apollo, deck 1t and
crown it,
And in his book of Iiddish verse
Songs and Thoughts he rccurs to
this theme again and 1gain. His
mental attitude is that of the seer
martyred to the hopeless task OF
guiding recalcitrant nation. lie
wakes them, but they Will not near
He points out to them the path to-
ward light, but they turn away and
refuse to see. Sympathetic, says the
Jewish Encyclopedia. Pehaps, but with
the sympathy of man outside the
pale calling for those within the dark
ness to come out to him. He sings:
But my race is deaf and blind and
will not hear.
And again his function is:
To purge their hearts, to furbish thelI
backs
And catch not seldom their curses ana
whacks.
He concludes that the Jews have
no sense of art They will not listen
to the poet because they do not under
stand him. They care nothing at all
about beauty. Their creed is the
meticulously expounded, scholastic
bubbles of the preacher or rabbi. This
attitude of mind is the intellectual soil
from which springs his Iiddish poetry
Not so when he writes in Russian
Here Frug has no mission except to
express himself. He does not have to
rouse the Russians. to show them the
light. So he writes personal poetry
of his longings. his loves, his soul. the
fail of his Gods, music. The soil from
which his Russian poetry springs is