YITZHAQ IBN KHALFOUN

(c. 965–after 1020)

A key transitional writer of the second generation, YITZHAQ IBN KHALFOUN was born in Spain, c. 965, to parents who had immigrated from North Africa. His father seems to have been supported by Shmu’el HaNagid’s father, as was the young Yitzhaq himself. Later on HaNagid also became Yitzhaq’s patron and friend, and the two exchanged poems in times of trouble. Ibn Khalfoun is often called the first professional Hebrew poet, that is, a poet who produced poems on demand for pay. His limiting role notwithstanding, he expanded the scope of the new Andalusian Hebrew poetry, introducing a fuller range of the Arabic elements and both a lither texture and lighter tone in his verse, which was far more personal and occasional than that of his predecessors. While Cordoba was his city, he traveled constantly in search of patrons and—judging from his sometimes barbed responses to his sponsors—wasn’t always happy with the compensation he received or the promptness with which he was paid. His collected work is exclusively secular.

LOVE IN ME STIRS

A GIFT OF CHEESE