Last October, Sara Bard Field, noted California poetess, produced a book-length poem entitled “Barabbas”. It won quick acclaim in literary circles.
“In my poem,” the author said, “I wanted to express my gratitude for the great enrichment of the world and of life that the Hebrew race has made.”
And now the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco has awarded to her the annual gold medal which it gives to California writers whose works are deemed most worthy for the year.
Mrs. Field, in her poem, pictures Barabbas, a Jewish fighter in the days of the Romans, as a rebel of heroic courage rather than as a robber. Considerable of the feeling of the Hebrew rebel as a prototype of a whole people has filtered into the poem.
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