Alfred Francis Kreymborg (December 10, 1883 – August 14, 1966) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, literary editor and anthologist.

Early life and associations

He was born in New York City to Hermann and Louisa Kreymborg (née Nasher), who ran a small cigar store, and he spent most of his life there and in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He was an active figure in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

and frequented the Liberal Club. He was the first literary figure to be included in

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

291 __NOTOC__ Year 291 ( CCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tiberianus and Dio (or, less frequently, year 1044 ''A ...

circle, and was briefly associated with the

Ferrer Center The Ferrer Center and Stelton Colony were an anarchist social center and colony, respectively, organized to honor the memory of anarchist pedagogue Francisco Ferrer and to build a school based on his model in the United States. In the widesprea ...

where

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

was studying under

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

. From

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

, Kreymborg and Man Ray worked together to bring out ten issues of the first of Kreymborg's prominent

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

magazines: ''

The Glebe The Glebe is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located just south of Ottawa's downtown area in the Capital Ward. According to the Glebe Community Association, the neighbourhood is bounded on the north by the Queensway, on the ...

''.

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

– who had heard about ''The Glebe'' from Kreymborg's friend

John Cournos John Cournos, born Ivan Grigorievich Korshun () (6 March 1881 – 27 August 1966), was a writer and translator of Russian Jewish background who spent his later life in exile. Early life Cournos was born in Zhytomyr, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine ...

– sent Kreymborg the manuscript of ''

Des Imagistes ''Des Imagistes: An Anthology'', edited by Ezra Pound and published in 1914, was the first anthology of the Imagism movement. It was published in ''The Glebe'' in February 1914, and later that year as a book by Charles and Albert Boni in New Yo ...

'' in the summer of 1913 and this famous first anthology of

Imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism is sometim ...

was published as the fifth issue of ''

'' In 1913 Man Ray and

Samuel Halpert Samuel Halpert (1884 in Białystok, Russian Empire, Russia – 1930 in Detroit, Michigan) was an American painter. Early days Halpert's family migrated to New York City in 1890. His father's preoccupation with religious devotion necessitate ...

, another of Henri's students, started an artist's colony in

Ridgefield, New Jersey } Ridgefield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,032,Grantwood' and comprised a number of clapboard shacks on a bluff on the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs st ...

opposite

Grants Tomb Grant's Tomb, officially the General Grant National Memorial, is the final resting place of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, and his wife, Julia Grant. It is a classical domed mausoleum in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan ...

, across the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

in Manhattan. Kreymborg moved to Ridgefield and launched '' Others: A Magazine of the New Verse'' with

Skipwith Cannell Skipwith Cannell (1887–1957) was an American poet associated with the Imagist group. His surname is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable. He was a friend of William Carlos Williams, and like Ezra Pound he came from Philadelphia. C ...

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

, and

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

in 1915. Pound had, along with the ''Des Imagistes'' poems, written to Kreymborg suggesting that he contact 'old Bull' Williams, that is

. Williams did not live far from Ridgefield, and he became involved in the magazine. Soon there was a group of artists associated with the magazine.

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood, ...

came to Ridgefield for picnics, and from 1915

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

occasionally visited. Regarding

, when asked whether Kreymborg was her American discoverer, she replied, "It could be said, perhaps; he did all he could to promote me. Miss Monroe and the Aldingtons had asked me simultaneously to contribute to ''Poetry'' and ''The Egoist'' in 1915. Alfred Kreymborg was not inhibited. I was a little different from the others. He thought that I might pass as a novelty, I guess." 1915 also saw the publication of a story in part based on a personal experience. The story was titled 'Edna' and published as ''Edna: The Girl of the Street;'' by the Greenwich Village entrepreneur

Guido Bruno Guido Bruno (1884–1942) was a well-known Greenwich Village character, and small press publisher and editor, sometimes called "the Barnum of Bohemia." He was based at his "Garret on Washington Square" where for an admission fee tourists cou ...

; the subtitle was Bruno's idea, added without the consent of the author.Kreymborg, ''Troubador'', Chapter 12, page 79.

John S. Sumner John Saxton Sumner (September 22, 1876 - June 20, 1971) headed the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), a New York state censorship body empowered to recommend obscenity cases to the appropriate prosecutors. He served as Associat ...

of the

New York Society for the Suppression of Vice The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV or SSV) was an institution dedicated to supervising the morality of the public, founded in 1873. Its specific mission was to monitor compliance with state laws and work with the courts and di ...

raised a stir; there was a court case which led to Bruno's imprisonment. The attendant morals row drew in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

and

Frank Harris Frank Harris (14 February 1855 – 26 August 1931) was an Irish-American editor, novelist, short story writer, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United State ...

: Harris made an impassioned statement in court defending the publisher. Kreymborg was lifelong friends with

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

, each independently choosing to write in

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definit ...

. Kreymborg's tone-poems, or 'mushrooms', had seldom made it into print, but in 1916, soon after his move to Ridgefield they were brought out in book form by

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

as 'Mushrooms: A Book of Free Forms' and Williams praised them as a "triumph for America". Kreymborg spent a year touring the United States, mostly visiting universities, reading his poetry — including at

The Sunwise Turn The Sunwise Turn, A Modern Bookshop was a bookshop in New York City that served as a literary salon and gathering-place for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Alfred Kreymborg, Maxwell Bodenheim, Peggy Guggenheim (an internship, intern in 1920), Theodore Dreise ...

in New York, an early supporter of his work — while accompanying himself on a

mandolute The Weymann Mandolute was one of the products sold under Weymann, the Philadelphia-based brand of Weymann and Sons, established 1864. The 'mandolutes' were actually mandolins with eight strings and tuned exactly the same. The scale length is als ...

1920s

Kreymborg continued to edit ''Others'' somewhat erratically until 1919; he then in June 1921 sailed to Europe to act as co-editor of ''Broom, An International Magazine of the Arts'' (along with

Harold Loeb Harold Albert Loeb (October 18, 1891 – January 20, 1974) was an American writer, notable as an important American figure in the arts among expatriates in Paris in the 1920s. In 1921 he was the founding editor of ''Broom: An International Magazin ...

).Periodicals
Contributors included

Malcolm Cowley Malcolm Cowley (August 24, 1898 – March 27, 1989) was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, ''Blue Juniata'' (1929), his lyrical memoir, ''Exile's Return ...

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school, which promoted a return to classical values. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Life Amy Lowell was born on Febru ...

and

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

. The magazine lost money. Kreymborg soon resigned and the magazine ceased publication in 1924. An ironic anecdote on the status of modernism: Kreymborg arranged for an aspiring artist

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

to create the artwork for the cover of volume 2, number 4 of ''Broom''. When ''Broom'' ceased publication, the original painting was left behind for its next tenants. Original works by Léger from that time period have sold for several million dollars. Kreymborg's poems appeared in ''

The Dial ''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...

'' in 1923. In the summer of 1925, Kreymborg was staying in Lake George Village, and happened to meet

Paul Rosenfeld Paul Leopold Rosenfeld (May 4, 1890 – July 21, 1946) was an American journalist, best known as a music critic. Biography He was born in New York City into a German-Jewish family, the son of Clara (née Liebmann) and Julius Rosenfield. His mot ...

who was staying with Stieglitz. In one late night discussion Kreymborg and Rosenfeld lamented the disappearance of various literary magazines, including ''Broom.'' Another neighbor,

Samuel Ornitz Samuel Badisch Ornitz (November 15, 1890 – March 10, 1957) was an American screenwriter and novelist from New York City; he was one of the "Hollywood Ten"Obituary ''Variety'', March 13, 1957, page 63. who were blacklisted from the 1950s on by ...

appeared and offered financial backing for an annual book of new writing. Thus Kreymborg and Rosenfeld founded ''American Caravan'', which was to be edited by

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a wr ...

and

Van Wyck Brooks Van Wyck Brooks (February 16, 1886 in Plainfield, New Jersey – May 2, 1963 in Bridgewater, Connecticut) was an American literary critic, biographer, and historian. Biography Brooks graduated from Harvard University in 1908. As a studen ...

. ''The Second American Caravan'', was edited by Kreymborg, Mumford, and Rosenfeld; it was reviewed th
December 1928 issue of ''The Dial''
1925 also saw the publication of his autobiography ''Troubadour'', in which he refers to himself in the third person by the nicknames "Ollie" and "Krimmie". Among other things, the book narrate Kreymborg's courtship of and marriage to Gertrude Lord ("Christine") and their amicable separation one year later on account of Gertrude's attachment to the American artist

Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as a ...

("Charles"). (His play "The Silent Waiter," loosely based on his first marriage, was performed by NYC's Metropolitan Playhouse in a virtual livestreamed production on March 13, 2021, with commentary.) It also tells of his second marriage to Dorothy ("Dot") Bloom. In 1929,

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

chose him to be one of the poets to appear in ''The Poetry Quartos'', proposed by Paul Johnston. Kreymborg contributed the poem, "Body and Stone." He also contributed a short story to ''The Prose Quartos'', published by Random House in 1930.

1930s and later

In 1938 Kreymborg's verse drama for radio '' The Planets: A Modern Allegory'' was broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and received such an enthusiastic response from the public that it was repeated a few weeks later. Kreymborg maintained a long-term connection with

primarily because of Kreymborg's relationship with Hugo Knudsen, who invented some of the early photo-printing processes that Stieglitz utilized. Knudsen and Kreymborg married sisters Beatrice (Bea) and Dot Bloom (respectively).

Other interests

He also wrote puppet plays (his most famous being ''Manikin Minikin'' and ''Lima Beans''), which he performed with his wife, Dot, while touring the United States. Kreymborg played chess at a near-professional level; he was recognized as a National Master standard player in his youth. O
two occasions
he played and lost to

José Capablanca José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, including a defeat in 1910 due to a mix-up in his

endgame Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to: Film * ''The End of the Game'' (1919 film) * ''The End of the Game'' (1975 film), short documentary U.S. film * ''Endgame'' (1983 film), 1983 Italian post-apocalyptic f ...

He dre
one game
with the U.S. Champion Frank Marshall in the 1911 Masters Tournament, but shortly afterward left the chess world after a stunning defeat by

Oscar Chajes Oscar Chajes (pronounced "HA-yes") (December 14, 1873 – February 28, 1928)* was an American chess player. Biography Chajes was Jewish and was born in Brody, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, in what is now Ukraine. In 1909, he won in the U.S. Open Cha ...

, returning to the sport roughly 23 years later. He wrote the article 'Chess Reclaims a Devotee', which is semi-autobiographical and also based on

Charles Jaffe Charles Jaffé (Jaffe) (circa 1879, Dubroŭna, Russian Empire – 12 July 1941, Brooklyn, USA) was a Russian Empire born Chess master, master and chess writer. Early years, moves to U.S. Jaffé was born in a small town, Dubroŭna (now in Vitse ...

; the story is well known in chess circles. Kreymborg was very close with sculptor Alexander "Sandy" Calder. Due to his knack of "discovering" and publishing some of the most important poets during his time, Kreymborg later became president of the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

Critical views

Kreymborg later became a relatively conservative poet, but – according to

Julian Symons Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons) (pronounced ''SIMM-ons''; 30 May 1912 – 19 November 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature. He was bor ...

– "never an interesting one" In ''Namedropping'', Richard Elman writes a short chapter about a meeting with Kreymborg in the early 1960s.Namedropping
/ref>

Works

Maxim Lieber Maxim Lieber (October 15, 1897 – April 10, 1993) was a prominent American literary agent in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. The Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers named him as an accomplice in 1949, and Lieber fled first to Mexico and then ...

was Kreymborg's literary agent in 1947. *'' Love and Life and Other Studies'' (1908) *'' Apostrophes: A Book of Tributes to Masters of Music'' (1910) *''Erna Vitek'' (1914) novel *''Edna: The Girl of the Street'' (1915

PDF of 1919 edition with G. B. Shaw contribution *''To My Mother 10 Rhythms'' (1915) *''Mushrooms: A Book of Free Forms'' (1916) poems, as 1915 ''Mushrooms 16 Rhythms'' in Bruno Chap Books *''Others: An Anthology of the New Verse'' (1916) editor *''Others: An Anthology of the New Verse'' (1917) editor *''Six Plays for Poem-Mimes'' (1918) *''Blood of Things: A Second Book of Free Forms'' (1920) *''Others for 1919: An Anthology of the New Verse'' (1920)
''Plays for Merry Andrews''
(1920) *''Less Lonely'' (1923)
''Puppet Plays''
(1923) *''Troubadour'' (1925) autobiography *''Lima Beans. A Scherzo Play in One Act'' (1925) *''Rocking Chairs and Other Comedies'' (1925) *''Manikin and Minikin'' (1925) *''Scarlet and Mellow'' (1926) *''There's a Moon Tonight'' (1926) comedy *''The American Caravan'' (1927), yearbook, editor with

and

, later years also *''Funnybone Alley'' (1927) *''The Lost Sail, A Cape Cod Diary'' (1928) *''Alfred Kreymborg'' (1928) The Pamphlet Poets *''Manhattan Men: Poems and Epitaphs'' (1929) poems *''Body and Stone: A Song Cycle'' (1929) *''Our Singing Strength, An Outline of American Poetry, 1620 - 1930'' (1929) also later in 1934 *''An Anthology of American Poetry Lyric: America 1630–1930'' (1930) anthology, later editions are supplemented *''Prologue in Hell'' (1930) *''I'm Not Complaining: A Kaffeeklatsch'' (1932) *''Little World. 1914 and After'' (1932) *''I'm No Hero'' (1933) *''How Do You Do Sir? And Other Short Plays'' (1934) *''Anthology of One-Act Plays 1937-38'' (1938) editor *''The Planets: A Modern Allegory'' (1938) *''Two New Yorkers'' (1938) editor

Stanley Burnshaw Stanley Burnshaw (June 20, 1906 – September 16, 2005) was an American poet, primarily known for his ontology ''The Seamless Web'' (1970). His style was particularly writing political poems, prose, editorials, etc. Aside from political poetry ...

, illustrated by Alexander Kruse *''The Four Apes and Other Fables of Our Day'' (1939) *''Poetic Drama: An Anthology of Plays in Verse'' (1941) editor *''Ten American Ballads'' (1942) *''Selected Poems 1912 to 1944'' (1945) *''Man and Shadow: An Allegory'' (1946) poems *''The Poetry Society of America Anthology'' (1946) editor with Amy Bonner and others *''No More War: An Ode to Peace'' (1949) *''No More War and other poems'' (1950)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * * Edward Winter
Alfred Kreymborg and Chess1921 passport photo, Alfred and Dorothy Kreymborg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreymborg, Alfred 1883 births 1966 deaths American male poets Imagists American chess players 20th-century American poets People from Ridgefield, New Jersey 20th-century American male writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters