On the Other Side of the Poem

From her earliest publications in Yiddish, the poet Rokhl Korn was applauded by critics for her forceful use of natural imagery, tight control over language, and alarming directness in style—all of which were rare qualities in Yiddish literature at the time. Born on a farming estate in Sucha Gora, Eastern Galicia, Korn was active promoting Yiddish culture in this region where Polish was generally considered the language of status and creativity among Jews. After a period of wandering and dislocation in Moscow, Soviet Central Asia, and Scandinavia during and after World War II, Korn settled in Montreal, becoming one of that city’s leading Yiddish cultural figures in the postwar era. Her verse in this later period retained the qualities of her earlier work, but was also suffused with themes of pain, loss, suffering, and loneliness.