David Goldstein
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113669
- eISBN:
- 9781800340183
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113669.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter addresses the poetry of Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Solomon was born in Malaga in 1021 or 1022, and lived the greater part of his life in Saragossa. From his early years, he was crippled by ...
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This chapter addresses the poetry of Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Solomon was born in Malaga in 1021 or 1022, and lived the greater part of his life in Saragossa. From his early years, he was crippled by disease, and his illness is a constant theme of his poetry. He was compelled to live by his writing, and found a sympathetic patron in Yekutiel ben Isaac ibn Hasan, who was executed in 1039. Perhaps as a result of his indisposition, and his consequent sense of inferiority, he was not an easy companion, and he left Saragossa, to die, perhaps in Valencia, between 1053 and 1058. He devoted much of his life to the pursuit of philosophy or ‘wisdom’, in which he found consolation for his physical cares; he was an adherent of the Neoplatonic school. His absorption in the ‘new’ philosophy, however, contributed to his personal unpopularity in the Jewish community of Saragossa. Meanwhile, Solomon’s fame as a poet rests mainly on his liturgical poems, which are masterpieces of concision and delicacy. It was he who introduced into the Hebrew poetic canon the poem addressed to the ‘soul’, by which he generally meant man’s intellectual aspiration to discover God.Less
This chapter addresses the poetry of Solomon Ibn Gabirol. Solomon was born in Malaga in 1021 or 1022, and lived the greater part of his life in Saragossa. From his early years, he was crippled by disease, and his illness is a constant theme of his poetry. He was compelled to live by his writing, and found a sympathetic patron in Yekutiel ben Isaac ibn Hasan, who was executed in 1039. Perhaps as a result of his indisposition, and his consequent sense of inferiority, he was not an easy companion, and he left Saragossa, to die, perhaps in Valencia, between 1053 and 1058. He devoted much of his life to the pursuit of philosophy or ‘wisdom’, in which he found consolation for his physical cares; he was an adherent of the Neoplatonic school. His absorption in the ‘new’ philosophy, however, contributed to his personal unpopularity in the Jewish community of Saragossa. Meanwhile, Solomon’s fame as a poet rests mainly on his liturgical poems, which are masterpieces of concision and delicacy. It was he who introduced into the Hebrew poetic canon the poem addressed to the ‘soul’, by which he generally meant man’s intellectual aspiration to discover God.
Y. Ṭzvi Langermann (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764678
- eISBN:
- 9781800343399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764678.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter considers the philosophical quest for God that found powerful expression in medieval Hebrew poetry. It mentions poets that composed hymns in praise of the deity and his creations as ...
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This chapter considers the philosophical quest for God that found powerful expression in medieval Hebrew poetry. It mentions poets that composed hymns in praise of the deity and his creations as philosophers who understood them and poetically expressed their great thirst for the divine presence. It also reviews poetical compositions on the soul or on the wonders of nature that may be contemplated with devotional intent, and specific compositions whose direct address to the deity indisputably marks them as prayers. The chapter looks at Solomon Ibn Gabirol's 'Keter malkhut' which found its way into some standard liturgies. It examines philosophical prayers attributed to Aristotle and other non-Jews that were included in Hebrew collections.Less
This chapter considers the philosophical quest for God that found powerful expression in medieval Hebrew poetry. It mentions poets that composed hymns in praise of the deity and his creations as philosophers who understood them and poetically expressed their great thirst for the divine presence. It also reviews poetical compositions on the soul or on the wonders of nature that may be contemplated with devotional intent, and specific compositions whose direct address to the deity indisputably marks them as prayers. The chapter looks at Solomon Ibn Gabirol's 'Keter malkhut' which found its way into some standard liturgies. It examines philosophical prayers attributed to Aristotle and other non-Jews that were included in Hebrew collections.
