Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923), pioneer of Yiddish poetry in the U.S. Born in the village of Bolkshein in Russian Poland, he grew up in Warsaw. After learning tailoring in London, he went to New York in 1886 and worked in a sweatshop as a presser. His first collection of socialist poems, Di Gloke ("The Bell"), appeared in 1888 and was followed by Di Blumen-Kete ("The Flower Wreath") in 1890. During the next decade his reputation grew as his sweatshop songs were sung by workers in factories and at mass meetings. When his Lider-Bukh ("The Book of Songs," 1897) was translated in 1898 by Leo Wiener under the title Songs from the Ghetto, his fame spread to non-Yiddish circles. He was translated into other languages and articles about him appeared in the English, French, and German press. Known as the "Poet Laureate of Labor," he barely made a living working in a sweatshop and nearly became blind. In 1894 he co-edited a humorous, satirical weekly, Der Ashmeday and, in 1905, the daily New Yorker Morgenblat. In 1908 he undertook a tour of Galicia and Western Europe where he was enthusiastically received; nevertheless, his financial situation did not improve. He also wrote for the Yiddish daily Forward. Of his 20 published volumes, the most widely read were his collected works in six volumes, Shriftn ("Writings," 1908–10), Gevelte Shriftn ("Selected Writings," 1912), in three volumes, and Dos Bukh fun Libe ("The Book of Love," 1914). He also wrote biographies of Judah Halevi and Heinrich Heine, two poets who had exerted a great influence upon his own lyrics. Poor, sick, and lonely in his last years, he became ever more embittered. Although he felt himself forgotten, his songs continued to be sung.

Rosenfeld wrote poems on proletarian, national, and romantic themes. During his lifetime Yiddish poetry developed far beyond his capacities, but his successors' achievements were possible only because of his pioneering efforts and stylistic innovations. Because his material conditions often compelled him to write when he was uninspired and in poor health, the quality of his work deteriorated. But his proletarian poems and national songs stirred the Jewish masses during their early struggles in the New World and at the beginning of the Jewish national renascence. Some of Rosenfeld's poems have been translated into English: Songs of Labor and Other Poems, translated by Rose P. Stokes and Helena Frank (1914); Teardrop Millionaire and Other Poems of Morris Rosenfeld, translated by Aaron Kramer (1955).