The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse (Viking, 1981 / Penguin Classics, 2006).  Hebrew-English bilingual edition.  Translated and edited by T. Carmi.

ISBN: 9780140424676 | 608 pages | PDF


This unique chronological anthology gathers together the riches of Hebrew poetry from "The Song of Deborah" to contemporary Israeli writings.  Verse written up to the tenth century show the development of "piyut", or liturgical poetry, and retell episodes from the Bible and exalt the glory of God.  Medieval works introduce secular ideas in love poems, wine songs and rhymed narratives, as well as devotional verse for specific religious rituals.  Themes such as the longing for the homeland run through the ages, especially in verse written after the rise of the Zionist movement, while poems of the last century marry Biblical references with the horrors of the Holocaust.

Edited and translated by the Israeli poet T. Carmi (1925-1994), this selection was the first of its kind produced in either English or Hebrew.  It features the original Hebrew version of each poem next to its English translation, and includes a lengthy historical introduction, bibliography, glossary, and indexes.

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF HEBREW VERSE is an excellent introduction to a rich and varied culture spanning 3,000 years.

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