Michael Licht

LICHT, MICHAEL (1893–1953), Yiddish poet and essayist. Licht was raised by an uncle in Bielozorka, Ukraine, and immigrated to New York in 1913, where he took courses at City College and the New School for Social Research. He began his literary career composing English-language poetry under the pseudonyms Sonin and M. Lichsonin. Soon afterwards, he turned to Yiddish, joined the *In-Zikh poets, and, together with Jacob *Glatstein and N.B. *Minkoff, edited avant-garde journals (1925–26), contributing his own works to many literary journals. During the last 20 years of his life, he suffered from debilitating heart disease. Licht is a poet of the American metropolis, with original insights and satiric undertones.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.