Talk:Hebrew and Jewish epic poetry

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"The stern character of Jewish monotheism prevented the rise of hero-worship, without which real epic poetry is impossible. "

This is an extraordinarily dubious statement!

Which part, the anti-hero worship in Judaism, or the hero-worship necessary for epic poetry? Both parts make sense to me... zafiroblue05 | Talk 05:54, 29 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I find this article quite incorrect, as there were a big number of long poems which depict the life of a hero, his story and his actions in every point of the Jewish history. Of course, as most of Hebrew and Yiddish works, it got no fame all around Europe, but that does not mean it didn't exist.

some examples: Mahbarot Emanuel of Imanuel Ha-Romi from the 13th-14th century, 

which includes the rhymed life story of Emanuel and even his journey in hell and heaven, as his contemporary Dante, "Dukus Horant" which is a proto-Yiddish epic poem from the beginning of the 14th century, Hai Ben-Mekitz which is even an earlier example, a rhymed allegorical story about a journey of the author to other worlds from the 12th century (which is as well among the first pieces to include science fiction elements). All kind of pieces from the middle ages of rhymed prose exist that can be called epics, which non are mentioned here.

not to mention that the Yiddish rhymed books of the 16th century aren't mentioned here ,as well ,at all, such as the Bovo Bukh and it's great contemporaries.

nonetheless it's worth mentioning the epics of the Caananite culture, which the Jewish culture arose and developed from, just as the Greek modern culture had developed from the ancient one, and as well what Umberto Cassuto had to say on epic poems in ancient Israel.

I hope somebody will change the article to mention those pieces, as my English isn't good enough to display at an article. --Hastatistica (talk) 10:09, 13 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]