Moses Ibn Ezra

From JudaismWiki

IBN EZRA, MOSES (ca. 1070-1139). Hebrew poet and older contemporary of Judah Ha-Levi. He came from a famous Jewish family in Granada, Spain. At first he was fascinated by the beauty of nature and the pleasures of life. After incursion of fanatic Muslim armies from North Africa to Spain, he took to wandering. He wrote so many religious poems pleading for forgiveness that he became known as Hasallach, or the penitential poet. A master of form and literary technique, Ibn Ezra made excellent use of the riches of the Hebrew language in his secular and religious poetry. His book Shirat Yisrael (The Poetry of Israel), originally written in Arabic, is of great value for the study of Hebrew poetry and its Arabic influences as well as literary theories which guided Hebrew poets.Hayim Y. Sheynin