"To Breathe Life into the Past as a Means of Bringing New Blood to the Present": The Instructional Poetry of Abraham Ibn Ezra. Issue 3 (2nd September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ishay, Haviva
• Is Part Of: Al-Masāq. Volume 34:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 183
• Page End: 195
• Publication Date: 2022-09-02
• Subjects: Didactic poems -- instructional genre -- medical poems -- debate poems -- riddles -- chess poem -- Abraham ibn Ezra; Civilization, Islamic -- Periodicals; Islamic Empire -- Periodicals; Mediterranean Region -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 909.04927
• DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2021.2015213
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-3110

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092-1167), the renowned exegete and grammarian who was as well a mathematician and an astronomer, a liturgist and an author of secular Hebrew poetry left his mark on the pages of history as a consummate Renaissance man who greatly contributed to diverse knowledge areas. He was the first to introduce to Hebrew secular poetry the debate genre, realism, humor, and the instructional genre. All of these already existed in Arabic poetry, but they had not been adopted by the Hebrew poets of Spain during the classical period. Ibn Ezra made use of them in his poetry. The introduction at this moment of features from Arabic literature that previously had passed over the Spanish Hebrew classics is at first glance perplexing, and worthy of our interest.