Here is indeed a remarkable event ... the unearthing of a major and until today mostly ignored Andalusian Hebrew poet ... The poetry itself sings as it once did in another language, culture, and time, thanks to Peter Cole's erudition and poetic sensibility. Not only are major translation problems overcome by intelligence and sensitivity, but the introduction provides informative observations concerning both the Arabic and Hebrew poetic traditions in Moslem Spain. These are poems to be remembered, especially since, in working through conflicting theories of translations, they have perfectly managed to avoid all the current pitfalls, all the circumlocutions and tricks. -- Award Citation, 1998 MLA-Scaglione Prize for Translation These very fine translations of the work of a remarkable medieval poet gain their authority as much from the literary gifts of the poet-translator as from his linguistic and historical knowledge. They convince us by their strong and supple appeal to the ear, as well as by their diction. For the English-speaking reader, this volume of lyric, epigram and epic narrative brings a treasure to light in the way it deserves to be presented. -- John Hollander, Yale University Medieval Hebrew poetry is particularly difficult to render poetically in English. Peter Cole's remarkable translations, in this vital sense, are a splendid achievement. -- Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Columbia University

The first major poet of the Hebrew literary renaissance of Moslem Spain, Shmuel Ben Yosef Ha-Levi HaNagid (993-1056 c.e.) was also the Prime Minister of the Muslim state of Granada, battlefield commander of the non-Jewish Granadan army, and one of the leading religious figures in a medieval Jewish world that stretched from Andalusia to Baghdad. Peter Cole's groundbreaking versions of HaNagid's poems capture the poet's combination of secular and religious passion, as well as his inspired linking of Hebrew and Arabic poetic practice. This annotated Selected Poems is the most comprehensive collection of HaNagid's work published to date in English. "The Multiple Troubles of Man" The multiple troubles of man, my brother, like slander and pain, amaze you? Consider the heart which holds them all in strangeness, and doesn't break. "I'd Suck Bitter Poison from the Viper's Mouth" I'd suck bitter poison from the viper's mouth and live by the basilisk's hole forever, rather than suffer through evenings with boors, fighting for crumbs from their table.