In this Book
- The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: Princeton University Press
- Series: Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation
Hebrew culture experienced a renewal in medieval Spain that produced what is arguably the most powerful body of Jewish poetry written since the Bible. Fusing elements of East and West, Arabic and Hebrew, and the particular and the universal, this verse embodies an extraordinary sensuality and intense faith that transcend the limits of language, place, and time.
Peter Cole's translations reveal this remarkable poetic world to English readers in all of its richness, humor, grace, gravity, and wisdom. The Dream of the Poem traces the arc of the entire period, presenting some four hundred poems by fifty-four poets, and including a panoramic historical introduction, short biographies of each poet, and extensive notes. (The original Hebrew texts are available on the Princeton University Press Web site.) By far the most potent and comprehensive gathering of medieval Hebrew poems ever assembled in English, Cole's anthology builds on what poet and translator Richard Howard has described as "the finest labor of poetic translation that I have seen in many years" and "an entire revelation: a body of lyric and didactic verse so intense, so intelligent, and so vivid that it appears to identify a whole dimension of historical consciousness previously unavailable to us." The Dream of the Poem is, Howard says, "a crowning achievement."
Table of Contents
- To the Reader
- pp. xxi-xxii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xxiii-xxvi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-20
- Part 1. Muslim Spain c. 950–c. 1140
- Yosef Ibn Avitor (c. 940–after 1024)
- pp. 30-34
- Shmu'el Hanagid (993–1056)
- pp. 37-69
- Shelomo Ibn Gabirol (1021/22–c. 1057/58)
- pp. 74-110
- Yitzhaq Ibn Ghiyyat (1038–89)
- pp. 111-113
- Yosef Ibn Sahl (mid-eleventh century–1124)
- pp. 114-116
- Moshe Ibn Ezra (c. 1055–after 1138)
- pp. 121-136
- Yosef Ibn Tzaddiq (c. 1070–1149)
- pp. 137-140
- Yehuda HaLevi (c. 1075–1141)
- pp. 143-170
- Part 2. Christian Spain and Provence c. 1140–1492
- Avraham Ibn Ezra (c. 1093–c. 1167)
- pp. 173-191
- Yosef Qimhi (c. 1105–c. 1170)
- pp. 196-199
- Anatoli Bar Yoself (c. 1130?–c. 1213)
- pp. 203-204
- Yehuda Ibn Shabbetai (1168/88–after 1225)
- pp. 205-207
- Yehuda Alharizi (1165–1225)
- pp. 208-217
- Ya'aqov Ben Elazar (1170–c. 1233)
- pp. 218-220
- Meir Halevi Abulafia (1170–1244)
- pp. 225-226
- Yitzhaq Hasniri (c. 1170/75–after 1229)
- pp. 227-228
- Moshe Ben Nahman (Nahmanides) (1194–1270)
- pp. 233-239
- Shem Tov Ibn Falaqera (c. 1225–after 1290)
- pp. 240-242
- Yitzhaq Ibn Sahula (late thirteenth century)
- pp. 243-244
- Avraham Abulafia (1240–c. 1291)
- pp. 245-251
- Yosef Giqatilla (1248–c. 1325)
- pp. 254-255
- Todros Abulafia (1247–after 1300)
- pp. 256-269
- Yedaya Hapenini (c. 1270–after 1306)
- pp. 278-280
- Avner [of Burgos?] (1260/70–c. 1340)
- pp. 281-283
- Qalonymos ben Qalonymos (1286–after 1328)
- pp. 284-286
- Moshe Natan (mid-fourteenth century)
- pp. 297-298
- Shelomo Depiera (1340s–after 1417)
- pp. 299-304
- Vidal Benveniste (c. 1380–before 1439)
- pp. 305-311
- Moshe Remos (c. 1406–c. 1430)
- pp. 326-329