James Oppenheim

Man's the bad child of the universe.

James Oppenheim (24 May 1882 – 4 August 1932) was an American poet, novelist, and editor. A lay analyst and early follower of Carl Jung, Oppenheim was also a founder and editor of The Seven Arts.

Quotes

• Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses.
  • "Bread and Roses", in The American Magazine, vol. 73, no. 2 (December 1911) p. 214

Monday Morning and Other Poems (1909)

New York: Sturgis & Walton Co

• Up in the heights of the evening skies I see my City of Cities float
  In sunset’s golden and crimson dyes: I look, and a great joy clutches my throat!
  Plateau of roofs by canyons crossed: windows by thousands fire-unfurled—
  O gazing, how the heart is lost in the Deepest City of the World!
  • "New York, from a Skyscraper"

Songs for the New Age (1914)

New York: The Century Co

• They can only set free men free...
  And there is no need of that:
  Free men set themselves free.
  • "The Slave"

War and Laughter (1916)

New York: The Century Co

• Hadn't he been blowing kisses to Earth millions of years before I was born?
  • "Morning and I"

• Quick as a hummingbird is my love,
  Dipping into the hearts of flowers—
  She darts so eagerly, swiftly, sweetly,
  Dipping into the flowers of my heart...
  • "Quick as a Hummingbird"

• We age inevitably:
  The old joys fade and are gone:
  And at last comes equanimity and the flame burning clear.
  • "New Year's Eve"

• Man's the bad child of the universe.
  • "Laughter"

• The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance;
  The wise grows it under his feet.
  • "The Wise"

• Would you end war?
  Create great Peace.
  • "1914—and After", IV

• To be a god
  First I must be a god-maker:
  We are what we create.
  • "Jottings, To Be a God"

External links

• Encyclopedic article on James Oppenheim on Wikipedia