Rosenberg, Isaac (1890-1918)

English poet. His poems of World War I reflect the horror of life on the front line, as in ‘Louse Hunting’, and fleeting philosophical moments, as in ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’.

Rosenberg was born in Bristol and trained as an artist at the Slade School in London but, though medically unfit, interrupted his career to enlist in the British army 1915 in order to earn money for his family. Like that of his contemporary Wilfred Owen, Rosenberg's war poetry now ranks with the finest of World War I, although it was largely unpublished during his lifetime. After serving for 20 months at the front, he was killed on the Somme. His Collected Works appeared in 1937.