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Birth of Secular Hebrew Poetry

Birth of Secular Hebrew Poetry. Prior to the 10 th century – all Hebrew poetry was religious The Andalusian School of Poetry provided a new way to write Dunash ben Labrat of Cordoba was the first to write secular Hebrew poetry He adapted Arabic poetic forms to Hebrew.

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Birth of Secular Hebrew Poetry

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  1. Birth of Secular Hebrew Poetry • Prior to the 10th century – all Hebrew poetry was religious • The Andalusian School of Poetry provided a new way to write • Dunash ben Labrat of Cordoba was the first to write secular Hebrew poetry • He adapted Arabic poetic forms to Hebrew

  2. What did this mean? • Arabic poetry had form and meter that was different from Biblical or religious Hebrew poetry • It focused on topics other than God and faith • Despite early resistance and claims Hebrew would not work in these new forms – Hebrew Secular poetry flourishes in Muslim Spain

  3. Muslim period – 950-1150 • Samuel HaNagid – lyrical accounts of military campaigns • Solomon ibn Gabirol • Moses ibn Ezra • Judah Halevi – the finest and most famous of this school

  4. Topics • Written in the courts of the Jews who served the Muslim leaders these poems would focus on: • Their benefactors’ lives and deaths • Self praise • Insulting rivals • Wine and love • Personal complaints and reflections

  5. Despite it being secular • Images for Torah and Tanach were common • Was seen as a way to revive Hebrew • Use of vocabulary and images from the Hebrew Bible • Whole passages would be quoted or inserted into a poem

  6. Piyyutim (liturgical poems) • Poems of a religious nature were also written • These were “devotional” and not necessarily used in formal prayer • These became more popular late in the Muslim period and when Christians re-conquered Spain and made life harder for Jews • This type of poetry was already well known in Ashkenaz where life had long been difficult

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