10340 Bialik's Early Poetry: 1890-1900 1

Credits: 6 advanced credits in Hebrew Literature

Prerequisites: 36 credits, including Selected Hebrew Short Stories: Early Twentieth Century, Israeli Poetry of the 1950s. Students must also fulfill all English requirements and take bibliographic instruction in the Library.

Recommended: History of Zionism: 1881-1914

Author: Dan Miron. The materials include a scientific edition of Bialik’s poems (Poems 1890-1898); and a reader which includes letters, articles and poems from the Enlightenment and Hibat Zion period.

The course follows the poet’s development as a new Hebrew poetry emerges. The process is traced by comparing poetic trends and models of the time (1890-1900) with Bialik’s poetry, by relating Bialik’s own development to his personality and self-image as an artist. The course emphasizes Bialik’s main poetic discovery – the poetic personality – and traces its development from lyrical-allegorical to a better defined lyrical “ego,” free of allegory and producing a new personal and national poetry. This development is traced in its historical context by contrasting contemporary and earlier poetic models with Bialik’s model, by comparing different versions of Bialik’s own poetry, and by reviewing criticism.


1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.