Born in Bessarabia, at an early age he was influenced by the poets Eliezer Steinbarg, Jacob Sternberg, and Moshe Altman, who were pioneers of Hebrew and Yiddish literature, and, later, by American English modernist poetry. In 1913, at the age of 17, Greenberg immigrated to the U. S., but impressions of his native town en- riched his poetry throughout his life. His lyrics and essays began to appear in Yiddish periodicals and anthologies in 1919. He studied at the University of Michigan, before settling in New York. Together with Elihu Shulman, he edited Getseltn (Tents 1945- 1948), a periodical of verse and literary criticism. He and Irving Howe edited important anthologies of translations from Yiddish into English: ATreasury of Yiddish Stories (1954), Five Yiddish Poets (1962), A Treasury of Yiddish Poetry (1969), Voices From the Yiddish (1972), Yiddish Stories Old and New (1974), Selected Stories of .I Peretz (1974), and Ashes Out of Hope (1977). His first volume of poetry, Gasn un Evenyus (Streets and Avenues, 1928), portrays New York as the symbol of the modern ambition. It was followed by Fun Umetum (From Everywhere, 1934), Fisherdorf (Fishing Village, 1938), Di Lange Nakht (The Long Night, 1946), Baynakhtiker Dialog (Night Dialogue), Eybiker Dorsht (Eternal Thirst, 1968), and Gedenkshaft (Memorabilia, 1974). The depression of the 1930s led to a more social proletarian tone in his poems.