wkp@lanl.ARPA (06/01/85)
>what about the modern hebrew poets, (including the contemporary) >such as Bialik, among others? One of the effects of the Zionist Revolution >was the revival of hebrew as a modern language. The poetry and >literature of the zionists deserve attention. [DAVID PARTER] I'm not quite sure what you mean by "zionist" poetry. The Hanah Senesh poem I quoted in my last posting was a relatively modern poem by a Jew who believed in zionism. Is that what you mean? Then I agree. If by "zionist" poetry, you mean politically-motivated poetry with blatant zionist overtones, then I tend to disagree. Good poetry can never be in service to any political or religious ideal; the result is usually mediocre. Good poetry is usually personal in nature, and more remarkable for what is NOT said. As an example of what I consider "bad" poetry, here is a poem whose lofty ideals are admirable, but whose poetic value is close to zero: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L'olam titzma nafshaynu, | Our souls will ever thirst, dai'ah, yofi, tahara, | Knowledge, beauty, and purity, v'tetze m'har kadshaynu, | And from the mountain of our sanctity, ha'emet--she'hi torah. | Comes the Truth--and it is Torah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This poem was written by the early Jewish activist and revolutionary zionist, Ze'ev Jabotinsky. These poems are NOT well-known in modern Jewish literature primarily because of their poetic poverty. Contrast this poem with the works of Yehuda Halevy (or even Haim Bialik), and you quickly see what I mean. A few notes on Jabotinsky. The man was a great scholar, and was fluent in the literature of over TWELVE languages. Like Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, he suffered somewhat at the hands of the orthodox Ashkenazi Jews in Palestine and Europe. The difference is that Jabotinsky did NOT reject traditional Jewish teachings, nor abandon his love for the Talmud. Finally, Jabotinsky was a good translator. He was the first to translate the poems of Edgar Allen Poe into Hebrew. What's more, he did a very good job of it. He also first translated the works of Bialik into Russian, and thereby helped ignite the zionist revolution in Eastern Europe. -- bill peter ihnp4!lanl!wkp