Pens of Iron: Echoes of the Psalms of David in Hebrew Poetry from Samuel HaNagid to Yehuda Amichai
Humanities
Independent Study
Within Jewish history, there are two great periods of Jewish literary revival, separated by almost a millennium: the eleventh century, and the twentieth. Although these periods are nearly a thousand years apart, the poems written during these times often seem to echo similar themes of war and persecution that persist in the collective Jewish consciousness. More specifically, the poems written by Jewish poets in the eleventh and twentieth century are often deeply inspired by the Psalms attributed to King David and by the Song of Solomon during the biblical era, as well as by various prophets within the Hebrew biblical narrative. In many ways, the Psalms and the Prophets created the original template for Jewish poetic memory, reflection, and self-consciousness; most of all, their long afterlife is demonstrative of the distinctive echo chamber of Hebrew literature, which has intermittently drawn upon biblical images and themes for wisdom and inspiration over thousands of years.
