In this unparalleled study of the forms of Hebrew poetry, preeminent authority Benjamin Harshav examines Hebrew verse during three millennia of changing historical and cultural contexts. He takes us around the world of the Jewish Diaspora, comparing the changes in Hebrew verse as it came into contact with the Canaanite, Greek, Arabic, Italian, German, Russian, Yiddish, and English poetic forms. Harshav explores the types and constraints of free rhythms, the meanings of sound patterns, the historical and linguistic frameworks that produced the first accentual iambs in English, German, Russian, Hebrew, and the first discovery of these iambs in a Yiddish romance written in Venice in 1508. In each chapter, the author presents an innovative analytical theory on a particular poetic domain, drawing on his close study of thousands of Hebrew poems.

Benjamin Harshav is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, J. & H. Blaustein Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature, Yale University and Professor Emeritus of Literary Theory, Tel Aviv University. He has published dozens of books in English and Hebrew, is founding editor of HaSifrut in Hebrew and Poetics Today in English. Harshav is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Laureate of EMeT, the highest Israeli Prize for a lifetime contribution.

"An original work of powerful analysis that is likely to remain the definitive study of this subject for the foreseeable future.... It is a book that anyone even marginally involved in Hebrew poetry would want to have on his or her bookshelf."-- Robert Alter, University of California, Berkeley--Robert Alter