Bassin, Moses

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BASSIN, MOSES

BASSIN, MOSES (Moyshe ; 1889–1963), Yiddish poet. Bassin, who was born in Nivki, Belorussia, deserted the Russian army in 1907 and immigrated to New York. From 1909 he contributed lyrics, essays, folk ballads, and children's songs to American Yiddish journals. His reputation rests on two works: a two-volume, 600-page anthology, Finf Hundert Yohr Yidishe Poezye (1917, 19222), with notes on the earlier selections by Ber *Borochov, which became a standard work; and an anthology of American Yiddish poetry Amerikaner Yidishe Poezye (1940), encompassing 31 poets. Bassin's own lyrics appeared in his anthologies but were never collected in book form.

bibliography:

Inzikh (1940), 164–76; lnyl, 1 (1956), 228; J. Leftwich, Golden Peacock (1939), 411. add. bibliography: K. Hellerstein, in: Shofar 9/4 (1991), 9–23.

[Moshe Rosetti]