Moses Ibn Ezra - His Poetry

His Poetry

Ibn Ezra is considered by many Jews as a masterly Hebrew poet. He specifically focused on the theory of poetry and is considered to be one of the greatest experts on the subject. His secular poems are contained in two works: in the Tarshish, and in the first part of his Diwan.

The "Tarshish" is divided into ten chapters, each of which contains in order the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. It is written in the Arabic style of poetry termed "tajnis," which consists in the repetition of words in every stanza, but with a different meaning in each repetition. The first chapter is dedicated to a certain Abraham (certainly not Abraham ibn Ezra), whose merits he exalts in Oriental fashion. In the nine remaining chapters are discussed: (ch. ii.) wine, love, and song; (iii.) the beauty of country life; (iv., v.) love-sickness and the separation of lovers; (vi.) unfaithful friends; (vii.) old age; (viii.) vicissitudes of fortune, and death; (ix.) confidence in God; (x.) the glory of poetry.

Another one of Ezra’s most famous works is the Maḳāla bi 'l-Ḥadīḳa fī maʿnāal-mad̲j̲āz wa 'l-ḥaḳīḳa. The main purpose of this work is to explain to Hebrew poets should model their poems based around the structure of Arabic poems. Ezra’s Hadika also primarily addresses the metaphorical interpretation of God and how God is such a powerful and divine being that he could not be interpreted through the human mind but simply through the use of metaphors. This was considered to be one of his most important and influential ideas in the medieval timeframe surrounding Jewish ideology.