The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse

The Penguin Book of... (Penguin Classics)

by Various, T. Carmi (Translation)

A unique collection of Hebrew poetry through the ages

Extending from the Song of Deborah—written 3,000 years ago—to poems written in Israel by authors born in the 1930's, this unparalleled selection of poetry is the first of its kind produced in either English or Hebrew.

Includes a note on the text, bibliography, and glossary
Features the original Hebrew version of each poem next to its English translation

Genres: Poetry, Jewish, Religion, Judaism, Classics, Anthologies, Nonfiction

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[James Carrigy · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10

One of the Penguin Classic crown jewels. Profound, funny, religious, horny, joyous, tragic, hopeful: it's an entire poetic history of a diverse people's experience of the human condition.

[Ivan Granger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most complete collection I’ve found of sacred Hebrew poetry, including Judah ha Levi, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Samuel Hanagid, the early Hekhalot Hymns, and many more. My only complaint: the translations are not versified, even though the Hebrew originals were. Still, worth reading.

[Malgosia Krakowska · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an immersive album of classical and modern Hebrew poetry. "Hebrew verse" is a linguistically very deep (e.g. the adoption of Arabic metre), and culturally very rich (Caliphate of Cordoba was an art matrix!) collection that includes works by the most prolific and prominent Jewish poets.

[Stephen Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The research that went in to this book is incredible and clear for all to see. If I was judging by research and the effort that went in to this work I would not hesitate in giving this five stars.

This book also suited me down to the ground as I enjoy reading poetry and am proud of my Jewish heritage. Due to being proud of my Jewish heritage I am very interested in reading and learning about the history of Judaism and the literature connected to it. This book did it all for me spades.

I'm giving it four stars as the introduction leading up to the poetry was excessively long and although there were interesting parts, it was extremely tedious at times. The introduction could have been much more concise and the book would have been all the better for it.

I also enjoyed some of the poetry more than others, but this is a question of taste. However, given I didn't enjoy all of the poetry it would be remiss of me to give five stars.

Overall this book is incredibly well researched and I enjoyed a lot of the poetry. It sated my joy of poetry and exploring Jewish heritage. I would definitely recommend this book for those who share my interests.

One tip when reading this book I would give is to take it slowly and read in small chunks to get the most out of it and taking it in, otherwise it feels overwhelming.