Introductory Hebrew Courses

Introduction to Hebrew Poetry

This course is for students of Hebrew at the intermediate or advanced level.

By the end of this course students will have learned to a) read and understand examples of Hebrew poetry from a range of ancient, medieval, and modern sources; b) read and understand commentary in Hebrew on the Psalms and Isaiah from Miqraot Gedolot; c) scan ancient Hebrew poetry; d) translate poetry according to a theory of close translation.

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Description

This course is taught by John Hobbins, a Lutheran pastor in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and a Hebrew instructor for Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia and for the Davenant Institute.

This course is for students of Hebrew at the intermediate or advanced level, and will run from January 18 through May 7. By the end of this course students will have learned to a) read and understand examples of Hebrew poetry from a range of ancient, medieval, and modern sources; b) read and understand commentary in Hebrew on the Psalms and Isaiah from Miqraot Gedolot; c) scan ancient Hebrew poetry; d) translate poetry according to a theory of close translation.

The core of the class consists of reading Hebrew verse from the Psalms and Isaiah all the way to Yehuda Amichai and Dahlia Ravikovitch of modern times. The similarities and differences between verse of different periods will sharpen awareness of the unique characteristics of ancient Hebrew verse of the kind found in the Bible. By the end of the course students will kow sixteen long and short examples of Hebrew verse inside and out, including eight selections from the Hebrew Bible.

Active methods of language acquisition are deployed from the very beginning: students will compose verse in Hebrew and learn to answer basic questions in Hebrew about the poems the read. Every examples of verse is given in both pointed and unpointed Hebrew. Students learn to read unpointed Hebrew poetry by listening to audio recordings of the texts.

*Note: this course prepares students for the Davenant Hebrew Poetry Exam, which is a prerequisite for future Davenant Hebrew courses at the advanced level.