The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492

by Peter Cole (translator)

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 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."

Genres: Poetry, Judaism, History, Jewish, Religion, Medieval, Spain

576 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2007

About the author

Peter Cole has published several books of poems and many volumes of translations from Hebrew and Arabic, both medieval and modern. He has received numerous honors for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and in 2007 he was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Reviews

[Mike Kaplan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this sweeping anthology of the hebrew poetry of medieval spain is one of most important books of translation i've ever read. summary does it an injustice. the music and force of the translation, the reach of the scholarship which provides a kind of ground tone against which the variations of individual authors can be read, and that larger feeling as one reads that one is stumbling, line by line, into a new world, heretofore glimpsed only in embalmed academic translations and never before seen en toto, provides something thrilling and rare.

[Ivan Granger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good collection of the great Hebrew poets and writers who emerged from the flowering of Jewish culture in Medieval Spain. A nice sampling of important figures of Kabbalah, philosophy, and culture, like Hanagid, ibn Gabirol, Halevi, Abulafia, and many more.

[J]

"
The beds of our friendship are rich with it,
planted by the river of affection,
and fixed like a seal in wax,
like graven gold
in the windowed dome of the temple.

May YAH be with you as you love,
and your soul which He loves be delived,

and the God who sends salvation shield you
till the sun and moor are no more."
- 'On fleeing his city'
Samuel Hanagid

"She said: “Be happy that God has helped you reach
The age of fifty in this world,” not knowing
That to me there is no difference between my life’s
Past and that of Noah about whom I heard.
For me there is only the hour in which I am present in this world:
It stays for a moment and then like a cloud moves on."

- 'Be glad'
Samuel Hanagid

"Run where you will.
Heaven surrounds you.
Get out while you can."

- 'Earth to Man'

"I'd give up my soul itself for one
whose light is like the sun:
He softly entreated me, saying: "Drink,
and banish your grief and longing--"
the wine poured from the beaker's spout
a viper in the mouth of a griffon.

And I answered him: "Could one contain the sun
within a jar that's broken?"
But my heart didn't yet know of its power
to utterly crush its burden--
which was lying safe and secure inside it,
like the king on his bed in Bashan."

'I'd give up my Soul Itself'
-Ibn Gabirol

[Tamar Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Cole's translations are really acts of transposition: they are their own poetry, connected with a silk thread inexorably to the original but only just. This is not a complaint but a compliment. I usually only look at others' translations of medieval Hebrew poems to compare with my own, but with Cole's work, there is great aesthetic pleasure in experiencing his transposed poems, with their own, modern ethos. You will experience the medieval poems anew, adding to your understanding and interpretation of them.

[ariela lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

legendary

[David]

I was inspired to read this by a friend who is investigating the life and times of Avroham Ibn Ezra (one of the poets featured in this book). She has told me stories about exploring some of the French locations where he lived and studied in the middle ages that have been totally built over. So these pieces of European Jewish history which were then places of worship and study are now basements.

Reading through this compilation of poets from Spain and Southern France was magical. Peter Cole offers little glimpses into the life of the poets and that combined with their original works makes this inspiring time for Jewish poetry come alive. It is invigorating to see images from Jewish liturgy used in many of these poems- giving those symbols added vibrance. Plus, getting a glance into the internal conflicts and personal observations of some of these Jewish poets is like a trip in a time machine. And there were a handful of homoerotic poems that I am still trying to contextualize.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, it will take me forever to finish this anthology. Because I won't. But skipping around in my usual way has yielded many gems. I'm giving it three stars though, because the notes seem a little misogynist at times. Check this and marvel:

My strength isn't fading, my branch is green
my words are fresh, my lines are lithe;
my soul sings, as breezes of song
across my fields are sent by the Lord.
For God works through me and so He created
a tongue that speaks and a hand that records.

--Vidal Benveniste, 14th century

[Liam Guilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extra-ordinary book. I've been dipping in and out since it arrived and while I haven't read everything it's perfect for someone like myself who knows nothing about the subject. Each poet has an introduction and a sampling of poems. IF the test of a good translation is the production of poems that work in English, as poems, then the skill of the translator is obvious.
It's impossible not to compare these with the kind of poems being produced in English during the same period. They belong to such different worlds.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cole's translation is excellent; the English translations are fluid and creative. This book of poetry spans 500 years of Spanish poets writing about religion, love, God, and everyday life. Some verses sound like they could be from the Psalms.

[Rauan · Rating 5 out of 5]

great translations of great poetry--- i especially recommend Shmuel Hanagid, the Prince,....

[Isidro Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical. Impressive mastery of intricate medieval poetical arts. Translation renders the poems into a contemporary idiom understandable by all. Truly unique!