Saʿadya ben Abraham al-Bashīrī: A Seventeenth-Century Northern Yemenite Poet
An annotated publication of twelve poems by R. Saʿadya ben Abraham al-Bashīrī of Raḥba. Assumption has held R. Zacharia al-Dāhrī of the sixteenth century to be the last poet of Northern Yemen and Ṣanʿa. Accordingly, the manner and form of Yemenite Hebrew Poetry since the seventeenth century has been...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
HUC
1981
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| In: |
Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1980, Volume: 51, Pages: 173-198 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | An annotated publication of twelve poems by R. Saʿadya ben Abraham al-Bashīrī of Raḥba. Assumption has held R. Zacharia al-Dāhrī of the sixteenth century to be the last poet of Northern Yemen and Ṣanʿa. Accordingly, the manner and form of Yemenite Hebrew Poetry since the seventeenth century has been traced solely to the influence of poets of the Southern region — in particular to the great poets of the Mashta family. Clues in the poems of R. Saʿadya clearly locate the poet in Sanʿa in the early seventeenth century. His poetry displays the same tendencies and style that later came to characterize Yemenite verse, and like the poetry of his Southern contemporaries, it bears the marks of Andalusian influence, celebrates friendship and the Sabbath, and concerns itself primarily with the themes of Exile, Redemption, and Messianic restoration. R. Saʿadya departs from the style and content of the Southern poets largely by omission: he does not resort to Lurianic Qabbala; he does not use the muwashaḥ; and he uses Aramaic rarely. His historical references suggest that the hardships borne by the Jewish community in Yemen during the early seventeenth century began prior to the rebellion of al-Qasim, and his work stands as a witness to the dissolution of Jewish communal and religious life in the years preceding and during the long siege of Sanʿa. The possibility of important literary activity in Northern Yemen during the siege of Sanʿa and contemporary with the Mashta poets in Southern Yemen compels reexamination of this period. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual
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