James Oppenheim
James Oppenheim Poems
As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray
...
Where love once was, let there be no hate:
Though they that went as one by night and day
Go now alone,
Where love once was, let there be no hate.
...
They set the slave free, striking off his chains…
Then he was as much of a slave as ever.
He was still chained to servility,
...
Ye morning-glories, ring in the gale your bells,
And with dew water the walk's dust for the burden-bearing ants:
Ye swinging spears of the larkspur, open your wells of gold
And pay your honey-tax to the hummingbird . . .
...
I keep walking around myself, mouth open with amazement:
For by all the ethical rules of life, I ought to be solemn and sad,
...
In a dark hour, tasting the Earth.
As I lay on my couch in the muffled night, and the rain lashed my window,
...
Clearing in the forest,
In the wild Kentucky forest,
And the stars, wintry stars strewn above!
O Night that is the starriest
...
Who is the runner in the skies,
With her blowing scarf of stars,
And our Earth and sun hovering like bees about her blossoming heart?
Her feet are on the winds, where space is deep,
...
James Oppenheim Biography
James Oppenheim (1882-1932), was an American poet, novelist, and editor. A lay analyst and early follower of C. G. Jung, Oppenheim was also the founder and editor of The Seven Arts, an important early 20th-century literary magazine. Oppenheim depicted labor troubles with Fabian and suffragist themes in his novel, The Nine-Tenths (1911) and in his famous poem Bread and Roses (1911). The slogan Bread and Roses is now commonly associated with the pivotal 1912 textile workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The poem was later set to music in 1976 by Mimi Fariña and again in 1990 by John Denver. Oppenheim was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 24, 1882, the son of Joseph and Matilda (Schloss) Oppenheim. He studied at Columbia University. Oppenheim married Lucy Seckel and had two children, Ralph and James Jr. (alias Garrett) Oppenheim was assistant head worker at the Hudson Guild Settlement in New York from 1901-03. He then worked as a teacher and acting superintendent at the Hebrew Technical School For Girls in New York from 1905-07. Oppenheim's published works include Pay Envelopes (1911); The Nine-Tenths(1911); The Olympian (1912); Idle Wives (1914); Songs For The New Age (1914); The Beloved (1915); War and Laughter (1916); The Book Of Self (1917); The Solitary (1919); The Mystic Warrior (1921); Golden Bird (1923); The Sea (collected poetry - 1924); Behind Your Front (1926); and American Types: A Preface To Analytic Psychology (1931). Additionally, he contributed short stories, articles, and poems to American Magazine, American Mercury, Century, Collier's, Freeman, Harper's, Hearst's, New Republic, and The Thinker. Oppenheim served as the editor for The Seven Arts magazine, where he worked with Waldo Frank, George Jean Nathan, Louis Untermeyer and Paul Rosenfeld from 1916-17, until he was blacklisted due to his opposition to US entry into World War I. Oppenheim died in New York City on August 4, 1932.)
The Best Poem Of James Oppenheim
Bread And Roses
As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing, 'Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses.'
As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men-
For they are women's children and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes-
Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses!
As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread;
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew-
Yes, bread we fight for-but we fight for Roses, too.
As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days-
The rising of the women means the rising of the race-
No more the drudge and idler-ten that toil where one reposes-
But sharing of life's glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses!
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