Aaron Kramer

Aaron Kramer was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.A. (1941) and M.A. (1951) from Brooklyn College and Ph.D. (1966) from New York University.|width = 35% Kramer started teaching English at Dowling College in 1961, and became a professor there in 1966; after retiring in 1992 he continued to teach as professor emeritus until 1996. {{cite web ==Private life and death==

Kramer married Katherine and had two daughters, Carol and Laura. He died April 7, 1997, age 75 at his home in Long Island. == Outook ==

Kramer's artistic identity took shape in New York City during the late 1930s and early 1940s, where he moved in left-wing literary circles and absorbed many of their attitudes and ideals. Although never affiliated with a party or ideology, Kramer consistently pursued progressive political themes in his poetry. He often wrote passionately about the injustices he perceived. Slavery and abolition were frequent themes of his early work ("Denmark Vesey," "The Ballad of August Biondi"). Racism, war and imperialism, and economic inequality were also repeated motifs in his poetry. On the other hand, Kramer frequently wrote about private, personal experiences. Both sides of his work display an idealism and optimism concerning the human capacity for endurance and compassion. == Published works ==

Kramer's critical books include The Prophetic Tradition in American Poetry (1968) and Melville’s Poetry (1972). and his obituary in the New York Times, • "The Death of President Roosevelt" (April 13, 1945) {{cite web • The Golden Trumpet (New York: International Publishers, 1949) • Denmark Vesey and Other Poems Including Translations from the Yiddish Poems by Morris Winchevsky, Morris Rosenfeld, David Edelshtat, Joseph Bovshover (Private printing, 1952) {{cite book • Roll the Forbidden Drums! (New York: Cameron & Kahn, 1954) • The Tune of the Calliope: Poems and Drawings of New York. Illus. Theodore Fried, et al. (New York: T. Yoseloff, 1958) • Rumshinsky's Hat and House of Buttons: Two Collections of Poetry (New York: T. Yoseloff, 1964) • Henry at the Grating: Poems of Nausea (New York: Folklore Center, 1968) • On the Way to Palermo and Other Poems (South Brunswick: A.S. Barnes, 1973) • Long Night's Journey Back to Light (Oakdale, NY: Dowling College Press, 1973) • O Golden Land! A Travelog in Verse (Oakdale, NY: Dowling College Press, 1976) • Long Night's Journey Back to Light II. Ed. Alex Kramer (Oakdale, NY: Dowling College Press, 1977) • Carousel Parkway (1980) • In Wicked Times. Illus. Barbara Allen. (Arlington, VA: Black Buzzard Press, 1983) • In the Suburbs (Winterville, GA: Ali Baba Press, 1986) • Indigo and Other Poems (New York: Cornwall Books, 1991) Collection: • The Burning Bush: Poems and Other Writings (1940–1980). Ed. Thomas Yoseloff (New York: Cornwall Books, 1983) Essays: • Regrouping: Poems (Northport, NY: Birnham WoodGraphics, 1997) Translations: • Moses: Poems and Translations (New York: O'Hare Books, 1962) • Songs and Ballads: Goethe, Schiller, Heine. Trans. Aaron Kramer (New York: O'Hare Books, 1963) • Rilke, Rainer Maria. Visions of Christ: A Posthumous Cycle of Poems. Ed. Siegfried Mandel. Trans. Aaron Kramer (Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press, 1967) • Reisen, Abraham. Poems. Trans. Aaron Kramer (Privately printed, 1971) • The Last Lullaby: Poetry from the Holocaust. Ed. and trans. Aaron Kramer. Illus. Saul Lishinsky (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1998) • Zychlinsky, Rajzel. God Hid His Face. Trans. Barnett Zumoff, Aaron Kramer, Marek Kanter, et al. (Santa Rosa, CA: Word & Quill Press, 1997) Edited and translated: • A Century of Yiddish Poetry. Ed. and trans. Aaron Kramer (New York: Cornwall Books, 1989) • Teitelboim, Dora. All My Yesterdays Were Steps: The Selected Poems of Dora Teitelboim. Ed. and trans. Aaron Kramer. Illus. Stan Kaplan (Hoboken, NJ: Dora Teitelboim Foundation, 1995) Editing: "In later years, Kramer co-edited West Hills Review: a Whitman Journal, and edited or co-edited numerous other anthologies." ==References==