Spanish Hebrew Poetry and the Arabic Literary Tradition

Offers an introduction to the history of the Jews of the Iberian peninsula and the political situation of Muslim Spain during the 11th century as well as an introduction to Arabic poetry, its genres and poetical theory, and the relation between Arabic poetry from the East and that of al-Andalus. This book deals extensively with the different Arabic poetic genres and their Hebrew equivalents, focusing on the four main poets Samuel Ha-Nagid, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Moses Ibn Ezra and Yehuda Ha-Lewi. At the end conclusions are drawn about the use of Arabic themes in Hebrew Andalusian poetry.