Conduct

By Samuel Greenberg 1893–1917 Samuel Greenberg

By a peninsula the painter sat and

Sketched the uneven valley groves.

The apostle gave alms to the

Meek. The volcano burst

In fusive sulphur and hurled

Rocks and ore into the air—

Heaven’s sudden change at

The drawing tempestuous,

Darkening shade of dense clouded hues.

The wanderer soon chose

His spot of rest; they bore the

Chosen hero upon their shoulders,

Whom they strangely admired, as

The beach-tide summer of people desired.

Source: The Oxford Book of American Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2006)

Biography

Samuel Greenberg was born in Vienna, Austria in 1893. He came to New York when he was seven and lived, first in poverty and then in a series of charity hospitals, on the Lower East Side. Greenberg died on Wards Island at age 23 of tuberculosis. Though his work was unpublished during his lifetime, he had a profound effect on Hart Crane, who took inspiration from Greenberg’s sonically dense and richly imaged lyricism; scholars . . .

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