1. Zemach, Eddy, Readings in Eight Hebrew Poems from the Middle Ages [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1968), pp. 40–48, 60–75Google Scholar; Bargebuhr, Frederic, The Alhambra: A Cycle of Studies on the Eleventh Century in Moorish Spain (Berlin, 1968), pp. 354—60CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hamori, Andras, On the Art of Medieval Arabic Literature (Princeton, 1974), pp. 92—98 (an independent consideration of the poem analyzed by Bargebuhr).Google Scholar

2. Ezra, Moses ibn, Kitdb al-muh&dara wal-mudhdkara edite and translated by Abraham, S. Halkin (Jerusalem, 1975) under the title Sefer ha-'iyyunim ve-ha-diyyunimGoogle Scholar; see passim (index). (Halkin's edition replaces the earlier, free rendition of Ben Zion Halper, Shirat Yisra'el [Leipzig, 1924].) Yellin, David, in his Spanish (Hebrew) Poetics [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1940), expands significantly upon the work of Moses ibn Ezra, while retaining the former's categories and approach, and in the process cites the Nagid's poetry liberally.Google Scholar

3. Ratzaby, Yehuda, “The Love Poetry of R. Shmuel ha-Nagid” [Hebrew], Tarbiz 39 (1969): 137–69Google Scholar; Levin, Israel, Shmuel ha-Nagid: His Life and Poetry [Hebrew] (Tel Aviv, 1963), pp. 107—48Google Scholar; Levin, I., “The War Poetry of Shmuel ha-Nagid; Its Relation to Ancient Heroic Arabic War Poetry” [Hebrew], Ha-sifrut 1 (1968–69): 347–67Google Scholar; and Levin, I., “Lamenting over the Ruins of the Encampment and the Image of the Wandering She Demon” [Hebrew], Tarbiz 36 (1957): 278–96.Google Scholar

4. Pagis, Dan, Secular Poetry and Poetic Theory: Moses ibn Ezra and His Contemporaries [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1970)Google Scholar; see index. Also, see below, n. 24.

5. On the background of the war poems of the Nagid, see Schirmann, Jefim, “The Wars of Shmuel ha-Nagid” [Hebrew], Zion 1 (1936): 261–83, 351–76; 2 (1937): 185–87.Google Scholar

6. Sassoon, David Solomon, Diwan of Shemuel Hannagidh (London, 1934).Google Scholar

7. Habermann, Abraham, Rabbi Shemuel ha-Nagid: Divan [Hebrew], 2 vols. (Tel Aviv, 1947–52).Google Scholar

8. Jarden, Dov, Divan Shmuel Hanagid: Ben Tehilim [Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1966). Unless otherwise noted, all references to the Nagid's poems refer to this edition, which contains, i.a., a comprehensive bibliography through 1965 on the Nagid's writings, and comments and studies on his life and works (pp. 461—82).Google Scholar

9. “Yom far u-mafoq” (“On a Day of Distress and Trouble”), #1 in DSH (p. 3) appears as the last of the war poems in Habermann, on p. 151 of his edition; and “Levavi be-qirbi ham” (“My Heart Is Hot Within Me”), #9 in DSH (pp. 35–38) appears in Habermann between “Metei sekhel” (“Men of Discernment”) and “be-libbi horn” (“There is Heat in My Heart”), which are #24 and #25 respectively in DSH.

10. DSH. #28, p. 96 and #36, pp. 121–24.

11. DSH, #27, pp. 89–95, esp. ss. 61–100, and the superscription of Yehosef.

12. DSH. p. 39.

13. DSH. pp. 108–9.

14. DSH, #2, pp. 4–14, esp. ss. 11–40; #5, p. 27.

15. DSH, pp. 27–30.

16. DSH, p. 43.

17. DSH. p. 15.

18. DSH, pp. 121–24.

19. DSH, #14, pp. 47–49.

20. DSH, #37, pp. 125–27.

21. DSH, #1, p. 3, esp. s. 8.

22. See Pagis, Secular Poetry, pp. 131–309.

23. Ibid., pp. 281–86.

24. A major contribution of Pagis in Secular Poetry is the clear demonstration of differences in style and content in the various—and rather stereotypic—segments of a given genre, say, the poem of friendship: there are, for example, fundamental shifts in attitude (as cheerful/gloomy) and perspective (personal/impersonal). Cf. Secular Poetry, pp. 116—21. Moreover, Pagis demonstrates that in many poems it is possible to extract a section which, seen in isolation, could readily be taken for a unit of another genre—such an instance being praise of a deceased person, which reads precisely like praise of one living (pp. 133—34). The consideration of such a dynamic in the genres of the Nagid is a high desideratum but one meriting independent treatment and lying outside the confines of this study, which will focus primarily on the linkages between the two major segments of the compound poem. In a future study, the writer intends to compare closing segments of self-praise to determine to what degree they might or might not be considered interchangeable—a topic suggested by Pagis himself, in private conversation, years ago. And in a forthcoming study the writer considers the relationship of an independent Ben Qohelet poem to a larger divan poem in which it is contained.

25. See n. 34 below, and Addenda A and B at the end of this study.

26. The longer background sections appear in the two longest of the Nagid's poems—#2 (in DSH) ss. 12–39 [political] and ss. 40–50 [military], pp. 5–7) and #4 (ss. 10–29 [or 10–38, if one considers the military conquests of the Nagid's troops described in ss. 30–38 as being antecedent to the main battle]), pp. 16—18. Other background sections include the following: #7, ss. 21–25, pp. 32–33; #13, ss. 14–21, pp. 45–6; #16, ss. 11, 16, 20, p. 53 (all these being at once part of the battle description, as the participants, their motivation and arrival are here given); #24, ss. 7–24, pp. 74–75; #26, ss. 23–26, p. 87; #29, s. 12 (here following a stich descriptive of battle), p. 97; and #40, ss. 22–23, pp. 144–45 (although construable as part of the battle). Other background descriptions are one stich or less than one stich, for the most part transitional in purpose and general, rather than conveying specific events leading up to the conflict: #9, s. 16, p. 37; #27, s. 12 (here following a stich descriptive of the battle), p. 97; #31, s. 17, p. 105; #34, s. 8 (again within the description of the enemy's activities), p. 115.

27. Martial nuclei: #2, ss. 51–131, pp. 5–13; #4, ss. 39–131, pp. 18–25; #7, ss. 26–34, p. 33; #9, ss. 16–33, pp. 37–38; #10, ss. 3–5, p. 39; #11, ss. 10–25, pp. 41–42; #13, ss. 22–31, p. 46; #15, ss. 10–14, p. 50; #16, ss. 9–25, pp. 52–54; #18, ss. 35–42, pp. 59–60; #20, ss. 27–42, pp. 64–65; #21, ss. 2–5, p. 66; #22, ss. 22–32, pp. 68–69; #24, ss. 25–69, pp. 75–78; #25, ss. 23–58, pp. 82–84; #26, ss. 27–44, pp. 87–88; #27, ss. 62–86, pp. 93–94; #29, ss. 11–26, pp. 97–98; #30, ss. 15–30, pp. 101–2; #31, ss. 16–49, pp. 105–7; #33, ss. 28–61, pp. 111–14; #34, ss. 8–14, 18, pp. 115–16; #37, ss. 13–15, p. 126; # 38, ss. 12–15, p. 129; # 39, ss. 29–39, pp. 136–37; #40, ss. 36—39, p. 142; #41, ss. 20—28, pp. 144—45. For examples of various components of battle scenes—such as taunts and challenges, stages of the battle and zeal for combat—see Levin, Shemuel ha-Nagid, pp. 77–95.

28. Sententiae in or following descriptions of battle include: #2, pp. 13—14, ss. 132–36; #9, p. 38, s. 30; #22, p. 69, ss. 33, 34; #29, p. 98, ss. 27–35; #31, p. 107, ss. 43–44. In three martial poems sententiae appear in initial sections: #35, pp. 117—18, ss. 4—15; #39, p. 134, s. 2; #40, p. 139, ss. 5–6.

29. Praise/dedication-of-poem to God: #2, s. 137, p. 14; #4, ss. 137–39, p. 26; #7, ss. 35–37, p. 33; #9, s. 36, p. 38; #11, s. 26, p. 42; #13, ss. 31–33, pp. 46–47; #15, s. 25, p. 51; #16, ss. 42–43, 57, pp. 55–56; #18, s. 46, p. 60; #22, ss. 40–43, p. 70; #24, s. 73, p.79; #25, ss. 59, 63–64, pp. 84–85; #27, ss. 89–90, pp. 94–95; #31, ss. 49–55, pp. 107–8; #33, ss. 67–68, p. 114; #34, s. 22, p. 116; #35, ss. 50–51, p. 121; #37, s. 27, p. 127; #38, ss. 62, 68–70, p. 133; #39, ss. 49–53, p. 138.

30. On praise of the poem and/or himself: #2, ss. 137–42, p. 14; #4, ss. 137–44, p. 26; #7, ss. 38—44, pp. 33—34; #13, ss. 33—35 (since this poem's rhyme appears at the end of every hemistich and the poem concludes with a hemistich, rather than a line comprised of two hemistichs, one could say rather, ss. 68–72), p. 46; #20, ss. 27, 40–42, pp. 64–65; #22, ss. 43–50, p. 70; #23, ss. 33–37, p. 73; #24, ss. 73–79, p. 79; #25, ss. 59–62, pp. 84–85; #31, s. 49, p. 107; #33, ss. 67–75, p. 114; #37, ss. 25–28, p. 127; #38, ss. 64–66, p. 133; #39, ss. 52–53, p. 138.

31. Declaration including instruction/exhortation on the dissemination/utilization of the poem: #2, ss. 143–49, p. 14; #4, ss. 145–49, p. 26; #6, ss. 54–56, p. 30; #11, ss. 29–31, p. 43; #26, ss. 45–47, p. 88; #31, ss. 55–56, p. 108; #33, s. 22 (unusual in that it comes in the midst of the poem), p. 111. A number of the stichs cited in this note and in the prior note state or imply that the poems are intended for synagogue use—specifically: #6, s. 55, p. 30; #11, s. 29, p. 43; #22, ss. 49–50, p. 70; #25, s. 61, p. 85; #26, ss. 46–47, p. 88; #33, s. 74, p. 114; and #37, s. 28, p. 127.

32. Other elements—requesting a prayer of his fellow Jews for his safety: #26, s. 48, p. 88; and #40, ss. 43–45, p. 142; requesting of God that his prayer be acceptable: #29, s. 39, p. 99 (and cf. Ps. 19:15 and 69:32); asking blessing and/or deliverance of God: #9, s. 37, p 38; #18, ss. 59–62, p. 61; #34, ss. 21–22, p. 116; triumphant return from battle: #41, ss. 27–30, p. 145; concern with the day of judgment: #16, s. 60, p. 56 (and cf. #36, ss. 37—42, p. 124); God's rendering just retribution (on earth): #25, ss. 63—64, p. 85; #30, ss. 40—41, p. 101; and declaration of the Nagid's salvation: #26, ss. 99–100, p. 95.

33. Scholars are divided over the question of the Nagid's Ben Tehillim being (1) synonymous with his divan, (2) incorporated therein or (3) as yet undiscovered. In “Ben Tehillim of Shmuel Hanagid and the Book of Psalms: A Study in Esoteric Linkage, ” Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1976, pp. 1—12, the writer summarizes this debate and attempts to substantiate the second of the above three positions. Nehemiah AHony, in a forthcoming article titled “Diwan and Ben Tehillim by Shmuel ha-Nagid” [Hebrew] also reviews this controversy and supports the first position.

34. Addendum A at the end of this paper presents a chart of 29 poems of the Nagid—28 of them are war poems—containing initial praise and, more than that, those components of the individual psalm of thanksgiving agreed upon by most biblical scholars as basic to the genre: initial praise; mention of the (past) danger—at times with calling on God; the fact of divine rescue; and final praise—at times followed by calling on others to praise. Cf. Fleming James, Thirty Psalmists (New York, 1965), pp. 163–86; Claus Westermann, The Praise of God in the Psalms, trans. K.. R. Crim (Richmond, 1965), pp. 102–16; and Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, trans. D. R. Ap-Thomas (Oxford, 1962), 2: 31–43. Addendum B presents, similarly, sections of 12 divan poems—nine being war poems—with marked resemblance to segments of the Psalter's hymn genre: summons to praise God; the reason(s) for praise—God's acts in nature and/or history; and concluding praise. See James, Thirty Psalmists, pp. 15–19; Mowinckel, The Psalms, pp. 81—105; Westermann, The Praise, pp. 15—35 and 152–55. Westermann emphasizes the basic similarity of psalms of praise (hymns) and songs of thanksgiving. Cf. also Mowinckel, 2: 87; and M. H. Segal, Mevo ha-miqra (Jerusalem, 1947), 3: 526.

35. #7, ss. 1—21 and 35—45, pp. 31—34. Such a return to the original theme at a poem's conclusion is rare in the composite poems mentioned below, the only other instance being #27, pp. 89–95.

36. § 9, ss. 1–15, pp. 25–38 (see below, sec. II); #25, ss. 1–17, pp. 80–81; #31, ss. 1–7, pp. 103—4 (leading into a description of the heavens in ss. 8—14, pp. 104—5). (This poem is analyzed below, sec. IV.)

37. #22, ss. 1–17, pp. 67–68 (analyzed below, sec. III).

38. #23, ss. 1–18, pp. 71–72.

39. #26, ss. 1–22, pp. 85–86

40. #15, ss. 1–10, 17–25, pp. 50–51 (this poem being almost wholly of lament); #41, ss. 1—20, pp. 143—44. Both poems lack, however, what Pagis holds to be the nuclear components of the lament genre— cosmic grief and the poet's grief over the loss of the deceased. See Pagis, Secular Poetry, pp. 197–200 and 206–14.

41. #16, ss. 12–15, 25–45, pp. 53–55; and #38, ss. 6–7, 17–41, 67, pp. 129–33.

42. #20: wine—ss. 2–10; lineage—ss. 11–18; adjuration—ss. 19–26.

43. #27, ss. 1–60, 93–97, pp. 89–95.

44. #31, ss. 8–14 (a description of the heavenly bodies), pp. 104–5; and #33, ss. 1–22 (the same, and description of human and animal activities by day and by night), pp. 109—11.

45. #21, ss. 1–2, 5–8, p. 66.

46. #39: self–praise—ss. 1–20, pp. 134–35; and of friendship—ss. 23–28, 39–48, pp. 137—38. The second such poem is #40: self-praise—ss. 1—22, pp. 139—41; and of friendship—ss. 23—35, 40—43, pp. 141—42. A somewhat similar blend of friendship and self-praise is found among poems of friendship in the Nagid's divan, these being #43—#45, pp. 147—53 (analyzed in an article under preparation); and #70, pp. 213—14 (treated in the writer's dissertation on pp. 300–12).

47. Ibn Qutaiba, author of The Book of Poetry and Poets [Arabic], ed. M., Gaudefroy- Demombynes (Paris, 1947)Google Scholar, is frequently cited for his description of the qasida as a type of poem with sterotypic sections basically unrelated one to another—as in Arberry, A. J., The Seven Odes: The First Chapter in Arabic Literature (London and New York, 1957), pp. 15–16Google Scholar and Gibb, H. A. R., Arabic Literature 2d rev. ed. (Oxford, 1963), pp. 15–16 (in a general discussion of the qasida on pp. 13—31).Google Scholar See also Nicholson, Reynold A., A Literary History of the Arabs (New York, 1922), pp. 76–78, 134 and 288Google Scholar; and Arberry, A. J., Arabic Poetry: An Introduction (New York, 1965), pp. 17–18.Google Scholar

48. Moses ibn Ezra, Muh&dara, sec. 141b, pp. 272–75. Pagis, in his Secular Poetry, p. 143, holds that the Arabic original signifies more (unrelated) topics than love. On Moses ibn Ezra's prefacing praise of a friend/patron with other topics, see Pagis, Secular Poetry, pp. 139, 172–74.

49. Yellin, Spanish (Hebrew) Poetics, p. 74.

50. Levin, Israel, The Golden Age [Hebrew] (Tel Aviv, 1955), p. 142 and Shmuel ha-Nagid, pp. 115, 132Google Scholar; Schirmann, Jefim, Hebrew Poetry in Spain and Provence [Hebrew] (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 1961), 1: 47Google Scholar; Zemach, Eddy, Ke-shoresh 'es (Tel Aviv, 1973), pp. 170–71.Google Scholar

51. Pagis, , Secular Poetry, esp. chap. 6, pp. 116—50.Google Scholar

52. See, for example, Scheindlin, Raymond, Form and Structure in the Poetry of Al-Mu'tamid ibn 'Abbad (Leiden, 1974), especially his Introduction (pp. 1–30) and notes 9, 10 and 19Google Scholar; and Hamori, On the Art, esp. chap. 1 on the pre-Islamic qasida, pp. 3—30.

53. Mirsky, Aharon, “The Structure of Friendship Poems” [Hebrew], Sinai 81 (1977): 103–28.Google Scholar

54. Feldman, Yael, On the Question of the Poetic Cohesion of Poems of Moses ibn Ezra [Hebrew], M.A. diss. Hebrew College (Brookline, Mass.), 1976.Google Scholar

55. Ezra, Moses ibn, Muhadara, fols. 141 v— 144v (includes prescriptions on a poem's opening stich), pp. 272–81.Google Scholar

56. As for example in #4, PP- 16—26, where the foe is identified with, or likened to, various foes of Israel: Amalek—ss. 43, 47; Arabs/Ishmael—ss. 14, 102; Babylonia—ss. 19, 70; Edom—s. 71; Egypt—s. 41; Moab—s. 45; Midian—s. 86; Philistines—ss. 14, 102; and foes of Israel in general—ss. 56, 79. Also #7, p. 33, s. 31: #9, p. 36, ss. 12, 13, 15; and cf. Cohen, Gerson D., Sefer Ha-Qabbalah by Ibn Daud: The Book of Tradition (Philadelphia, 1967), p. 277 and n. 86.Google Scholar

57. On the nasib see Hamori, On the Art, pp. 13–19, 37, 71 and 136–38 and notes. See also Arberry, Arabic Poetry, pp. 42—43, ss. 1—3 and pp. 38—39, ss. 1—4; and Ratzaby, “The Love Poetry, ” p. 162, #20.

58. Other instances of bracketing of initial segments of compound poems by repeating roots and/or word play (discounting prepositions) in war poems (# 1 —#40 in DSH ) include the following: #16, pp. 52ff., ss. 1 and 8—“ve-gadelu ke-migdalim” (“towered like towers”) and “godlo” (“His might”); #26, pp. 85ff., ss. 1 and 22, “be-lo rish” (“without destitution”) and “horish” (“has left as legacy”); #27, pp. 89ff., ss. 1 and 60— “peh” (“mouth”) and “u-feh” (“and a mouth”); #39, pp. 134ff., ss. 1 and 22, “panim” (“face”) and “u-fanim” (“and face”); and #41, pp. 143ff., ss. 1 and 19, “zeman” (“time/fate”) and “zemani” (“my time/fate”). The close scrutiny of this bracketing stylistic in the works of the Nagid and other medieval Hebrew poets and its comparison with the phenomenon of inclusion in biblical poetry is a desideratum.

59. The student of Jewish historiography is referred to Cohen, Sefer Ha-Qabbalah, esp. pp. 223—303, where Cohen demonstrates from ibn Daud's work and primary Hebrew sources of Muslim Spain—particularly poetry ( including poems by and to the Nagid )—that Spanish Jewish leadership viewed itself, and was itself viewed internally, as an active participant in the messianic process.

^a. This table lists 29 divan poems having sections that resemble typical sections of the individual psalm of thanksgiving. The first column lists the number of poem in DSH; the second column gives the page numbers of stich( s ) cited; and the remaining columns indicate which stichs resemble typical sections of the individual psalm of thanksgiving—discussed in n. 34.

^b. Here, self-adjuration to praise God.

^c. Here, calling on others to pray by recitation of the poem itself.

^*. This table lists twelve divan poems having sections that resemble typical sections of the hymn psalm, which are the call to praise God; the reason for this—God's grandeur in Nature or divine acts in human events; and concluding praise. The first column lists the number of the poem in DSH; the second gives the page number( s ) of the stichs cited; the remaining columns indicate which stichs resembles the typical sections of the hymn-type psalm—discussed in n. 47.

^*. See superscription of Yehosef, DSH, p. 35.

^*. 2 Sam. 16:4, 19:25–27.

^*. Jarden's explanation, DSH, p. 107.