A Study Guide for Shmuel ha-Nagid's "Two Eclipses"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Shmuel ha-Nagid's "Two Eclipses," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535841702

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10

Two Eclipses

Shmuel Hanagid

C. 1044

Introduction

Two Eclipses, is the English translation of the title of a poem written in Hebrew in 1044 by the Spanish poet Shmuel HaNagid. The poem documents two eclipses, one lunar and one solar, that occurred in the month of Kislev that year. In the Hebrew calendar, Kislev is the third month of the civil year and the ninth month of the religious year; it usually corresponds to a thirty-day month that falls in November-December. The lunar eclipse occurred on November 8, 1044, between 11:00 in the evening and 2:00 in the morning; the solar eclipse took place on November 22 from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning.

Two Eclipses was included in Ben Kohelet, one of HaNagid's three collections of poetry. This title means After Ecclesiastes referring to the twenty-first book of the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, though sometimes HaNagid's collection is referred to as The Little Book of Ecclesiastes, reflecting the title HaNagid's son gave to it after his father's death. The poems in this collection, including Two Eclipses, are regarded as HaNagid's most mature poems; they consist of epigrammatic verses that describe natural phenomena (Gazing through the Night,The Earthquake) or offer meditations on death (You Felt the Fear of Death,Ask the Dead and They'll Tell You). By titling the collection After Ecclesiastes, one of the more philosophical books of the Old Testament, HaNagid announced that the poems would be meditative reflections from a philosopher rather than a statement of religious doctrine from a rabbi or theologian. Perhaps, taken together, they would reflect Ecclesiastes 1:4: A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

Author Biography

HaNagid was a poet, statesman, merchant, and military leader. Western writers often alter the Hebrew Shmuel to Samuel, sometimes Ishmael, and his last name is variously written as HaNagid, ha-Nagid, Hannagid, and ha'Nagid. He was born in 993 as Shmuel ben Yosef ha-Levi to a prominent Jewish family in Cordoba, Spain, and received a classical education, studying Hebrew, Greek, and