FORM, THEME, AND MEANING IN ANDALUSI HEBREW POEMS ABOUT TIME

This study discusses form, theme, and meaning in social (often called “secular”) Andalusi Hebrew poetry about the theme of Time from the works of Samuel the Nagid (993-1056), Solomon Ibn Gabirol (c.1021- c.1058), Moses Ibn ʿEzra (c. 1055-after 1138), and Judah Halevi (c. 1075-1141). In Andalusi Hebrew poetry, the theme of Time takes on a wide range of meanings but often refers to the passage of days that leads all entities into decay, though bringing renewal. The trope also appears in complaints about the “the times,” or the degenerate present age. This study argues that in poems about Time, literary meaning is generated by the interaction between theme and form. Chapter 1 considers epigrams about the topic: In Samuel the Nagid’s Ben Qohelet (Little Ecclesiastes) and Moses ʿIbn Ezra’s Sefer ha-ʿAnaq (The Book of the Necklace), the tight structural constraints capture a creative tension between order (poetic form) and disorder (Time). Chapter 2 analyzes “miniature odes” about Time in the works of all four authors: Terse poems that are 10-20 lines long chart a distilled literary “journey” throughout a concise structure. The first part of these compositions is imbued with a sense of decay: the second segues into an evocation of themes deemed to endure, such as friendship, wisdom, or even poetry itself. Chapter 3 analyzes how a thematic journey from disorder to renewal is mapped onto various structures of the long poem. As Time is subdued, depictions of health, political status, and redemption from loneliness are revealed.