Reading & Writing Poetry

Poetry, says the German poet Reiner Maria Rilke, is "a murmur of nothing". That is true, since poetry is the most minor linguistic medium. Nevertheless, its effect can be enormous. This tension between the immortal content of poetry and its simplest form is surely experienced by anyone who ever perpetuated the sin of writing poetry. This is precisely the work of poetry: To convey the excess of meaning in the most fragile vessel of verse. In the seminar we will read Hebrew and non-Hebrew poetry, and practice the art of poetry writing. While doing so, we will get acquainted with various writing techniques such as rhythmus, rhyme, the image and the allusion, as well as to lyric and epic, modern and traditional, poetic forms