Mine Is The Golden Tongue, The Hebrew Sonnets Of Immanuel Of Rome
By Immanuel of Rome
Translated and annotated by Yehudah Cohn
This volume contains the first known sonnets written in Hebrew. Their author is Immanuel of Rome, an intensely studied yet little-known 14th-century poet, who adapted the quantitative meter of Arabic and Hebrew poetry from al-Andalous to the syllabic meter of romance poetry. These poems are part of Immanuel’s most studied book, Maḥbarot, a collection of poetic tales conceived between satire and allegory, which combine the Arabic maqama with the stilnovistic poetic form immortalized by Dante. Widely published during its author’s lifetime and in the following centuries, the Maḥbarot as a whole has never been translated into any language.
We hope our readers will enjoy these fragments of his poetic world and, through them, gain a glimpse of its roots beyond the borders of the “Western canon.”
Author
Immanuel lived in the Papal city during a period of great turmoil between the communal experience and the Papal exile to Avignon. He moved with ease in the Roman Jewish and non-Jewish worlds that were actively involved in translation. Writing in a milieu where Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, Greek, and the vernaculars were concurrent languages, Immanuel left us brilliant verses in Hebrew and vernacular. He was an admired biblical commentator whose references spanned from the Talmud and Maimonides to Aristotelian and neo-Platonic philosophy.
Author : Immanuel of Rome
Translated and annotated by Yehudah Cohn
Title : Mine Is The Golden Tongue, The Hebrew Sonnets of Immanuel of Rome
Year : 2023
Series : The Arts
Paperback – ISBN 978-1-941046-39-5
EBook – ISBN 978-1-941046-38-8
Price paperback: $20
E-book: $9
Publication date: November 1st, 2023.
Also coming soon:
Mine is the golden tongue that none can quell.
Let all request approval; I’d rebuff
unlicensed poets penning any fluff,
just throw my shoe and blow my horn and yell.
Immanuel of Rome
