Moses Ibn Ezra's 'Graves': The Analysis of a Short Poem

Author(s): Gene M. Schramm

Source: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Vol. 30 (1962), pp.
129-139
Published by: American Academy for Jewish Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3622536
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 MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES':

THE ANALYSIS OF A SHORT POEM*

By GENE M. SCHRAMM

University of California, Berkeley

1. Introduction. If poetry can be considered broadly as an

art form for which the medium is language, an attempt to garb
a tale, sentiment, or thought worth telling in elegant dress, then
the arbitrariness of relationship between expression and content
which has become axiomatic to linguists must be somehow re-
examined. The present study is by no means intended to be an
esthetic evaluation of art or purported art. Rather, it is an at-
tempt to study and to state some of the ways in which linguistic
analysis may have bearing on language as a medium for art.
Principles of versification vary in their specifics from tradition
to tradition. Sometimes they vary because of habits that are
culture bound. More important, principles of versification are
often language bound, since the versifier or poet must use the
conventions that comprise the grammatical structure of the
language he works in. For example, the metrics of a poetic
corpus cannot involve a prosodic feature such as vowel length
or stress if such features have no structural significance in the
language in which the verse is composed. Configurated sequences
of tone, similarly, are impossible unless the language is a tone
language, such as Chinese or Vietnamese. Often, metrical devices
may be utilized quite apart from the conscious effort of the poet
as an individual or even of a group of poets who belong to the
same school.
Certain initial plans may be made by the poet. He may decide
on a pentametric line of iambic feet, for example, with or without

* This article is dedicated to the memory of Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel,

a scholar in Israel, who passed away in Oakland, California, on 27 Elul, 5722,

September 26, 1962. ,n"nn. 129

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 130 SCHRAMM [2]

a rhyme scheme. But the occasional substitution of a trochee

for an iamb, the occasional feminine line or off-rhyme may occur,
without design or even counter to plan. More often, in the
revision of a work, certain substitutions are made for no other
reason than that they seem to "sound better." In other words,
the poet has some decisions which he makes explicitly, has some
alternatives of which one is chosen tacitly. The art or craft of
composing is not quite so arbitrary a matter.
In normal, everyday communication, certain structural ele-
ments of a language occur over and over again in high frequency;
these are usually called the canonic elements and their sequences
the canonic sequences of the language. One important difference
between the poetic and non-poetic is a statistical inversion. The
non-canonic features as a group are used to a much larger extent
and seem to pattern. For example, the occurrence of meter and
rhyme in ordinary language is not canonic. Their complete
absence or even modification in, say, a limerick or sonnet, would
constitute an interesting innovation, to say the least.
One may expect to find patterns of non-canonic features on all
levels of the hierarchy of linguistic analysis: phonological, mor-
phological, and syntactic. The configurations which may be
observed have significance within the single poem analyzed and
in the corpus of poems, whether they are the product of one man
or a school. The following discussion will concentrate on one
six-lined verse by Moses Ibn Ezra.' It is hoped that the method
of analysis will be illustrated at the same time that certain general
observations may be made concerning the structural features of
this poem, the relationship of its structure to its message, as well
as properties which are to be sought for elsewhere in other poems
by Ibn Ezra and his contemporaries.
2. Methodological Sketch. It is assumed that there were six
distinctive qualitative vowels in the Hebrew of the Spanish
poets, namely, the high front /i/ and /@/, represented by khirik
and sheva, respectively, in the Tiberian orthographic system;
the low front /e/, represented by tsere and segol; the high back

I The text is taken from H. Schirmann, Ha-Shirah ha-'Ivrit bi-Sefarad uvi-

Provans, second edition (Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1959), Vol. I, p. 403.

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[3] MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES': ANALYSIS OF A POEM 131

/u/, represented by shuruk and kubbuts; the low back /a/,

represented by patakh and kamats (this last provided it was not
in a closed unstressed syllable); and /o/, represented by h.olam
and kamats (when in a closed, unstressed syllable).
Front Back

High i a u
Low e a o

Quantitatively, /a/ was always short, /i/ always long. When

word-initial only, and provided that it was followed by a single
consonant, /u/ was short; otherwise, /u/ was predictably long.
The low vowels had contrastive length, marked /e 'i 6/ when
short, (represented orthographically by the three bataf digraphs),
/e a o/ when long.2
There were at least twenty-four contrastive consonants, as
follows. Voiceless stops /p t t k a '/; voiced stops /b d g/; voice-
less spirants /f s s x lh h/; voiced spirants /z &/; nasals /m n/;
semivowels /w y/; lateral /1/; trill /r/. The existence of the
voiceless spirant 6// and the voiced spirants /v 7y 6/, while pos-
sible, is not certain.
Stress was contrastive and could be used as a metrical device.
In Spanish Hebrew poetry, the most frequently observable meters
are based on vowel quantity rather than on stress, as has often
been pointed out, in imitation of Arabic meters. Hebrew and
Arabic syllabic structures are typologically different, however.
In Arabic, stress is completely predictable on the basis of syllabic
type; long syllables, unless they are word-final, are stressed. In
Hebrew, stress is not completely predictable on the basis of other
phonological or orthographic criteria; while syllables containing
short vowels, as listed above, are never stressed, syllables con-
taining long vowels may or may not be stressed. It is therefore
reasonable to search for metrical use of stress independent of
meters based on vocalic length.3
Morphologically, the use and distribution of the several word-

2 Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 719 ff.

3 The first to employ stress meter in counterpoint to vocalic length meter
was, apparently, Samuel Hanagid.

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 132 SCHRAMM [4]

classes may be of importance. Nouns, for example, may be

categorized by gender and number, and their general content
may be noted as they refer to inanimate or animate things. The
occurrence of verbs may also be significant. Participles, which
morphologically and syntactically may be nominal and/or
verbal, may be counted as nouns or as verbs, depending on
contextual criteria.
In the syntax, items such as non-canonic agreement, unusual
word order, non-canonic government, are also to be observed.
If any of these structural features pattern, it is of interest to
note whether they provide any formal basis for dividing the verse
or poem into constituent parts, and whether by different sets of
formal criteria these divisions tend to remain the same or rather
overlap. Finally, if the poem is divisible, not according to formal
criteria, but by the content, i. e. into introduction, development,
coda, or the like, the correspondence of division according to
content and division according to formal criteria, or the lack of
correspondence, may be of interest.
3. The Poem. The six-lined verse "Graves" has been chosen
for demonstration purposes, not because of intrinsic merit, but
rather because it was the first poem analyzed by this writer.
a. Text.

101101 O ~iy-1130 DV 077=1 .2

4. wto 'ahbit wlo 'ebit 1 xenim

5. wslo yaxlu sa&ipay bahl'zotim

6. lahafrid ben &abadim la'adonim/

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[5] MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES': ANALYSIS OF A POEM 133

c. Translation.

1. graves from-a-time past ancient-ones

2. and-in-them a-people sleep / year-eternal are-asleep
3. and-no hate nor envy in-their-midst
4. nor love nor enmity-of-neighbors
5. and-not were-able my-thoughts in-beholding-them / in-
their-beholding
6. to-distinguish between slaves and-masters

3.1. Vowel Distribution. Assuming the six qualitative vowels

mentioned above, the distribution of the vowels per line is as
follows:

High Front Low Front Low Back High Back

1. 6 2 3 -
2. 3 2 5 1

3. 5 1 5 -
4. 4 2 5 -

5. 3 - 7 1
6. 4 1 6 -

Considering the high vowels as opposed to the low, and the

front vowels as opposed to the back, the following distributions
are observed:

High-Low Front-Back
1. 6-5 8-3
2. 4-7 5-6
3. 5-6 6-5
4. 4-7 6-5
5. 4-7 3-8
6. 4-7 5-6

Finally, tallying the high front vowels (bright) plus the low
back vowels (dark) against the low front plus high back (neutral),
the following figures are seen:

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 134 SCHRAMM [6]

Bright + Dark Neutral

1. 9 2
2. 8 3
3. 10 1
4. 9 2
5. 10 1
6. 10 1

These distributions are significant in that they provide possible

formal divisions of the verse. The most symmetrical set is that
of the front-back contrasts. There, the first and fifth lines are
relatively uneven in vowel balance, but also are mirror images of
each other. The second, third, fourth, and sixth lines are each
relatively even in vowel balance, with lines three and four being
the mirror images of lines two and six. The division is apparently
into three couplets, the first two lines balanced against the last
two, with the middle couplet as the pivot.
The division according to high-low contrasts is different. The
last three lines as a group stand out as against the first three,
dividing the verse into two triplets; even, uneven, even, as op-
posed to three uneven lines. It is also possible, as an alternative,
to divide the verse into a quatrain plus a couplet on the basis of
high-low distribution.
The last set of vowel distributions show a heavy preponderance
of light-dark over neutral in every line. Here, the division seems
to be into three couplets on the basis of relative unevenness in the
constituent lines, viz., more uneven to less uneven; more uneven
to less uneven; the final couplet stands out alone as the one which
contains two lines exactly alike in distribution.4
3.2 Consonant Distributions. For the consonants, the reso-
nants are counted as against the non-resonants, and the voiced

4 This sort of balance in vowel distribution per line, which may be termed
qualitative prosody, is regular in the secular works of Moses Ibn Ezra and
Gabirol, extremely infrequent in the verses of Judah Halevi. It is not charac-
teristic, as far as has been checked so far by this writer, in liturgical composi-
tions of these poets. In addition, it may be noted that qualitative prosody, as
found in the verses of Gabirol, differs from that of Ibn Ezra.

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[7] MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES': ANALYSIS OF A POEM 135

non-resonant consonants as opposed to the voiceless ones. Then,

the resonants plus the voiced non-resonants are tallied against the
voiceless non-resonants.

Resonance Voicing
+ - + - RVd V1
1. 10 6 3 3 13 3
2. 8 7 3 4 11 4
3. 7 8 1 7 8 7
4. 6 9 2 7 8 7
5. 6 8 3 5 9 5
6. 7 9 6 3 13 3

For the first set of figures, the division is apparently into two
triplets: the first begins with a heavy imbalance of resonants
over non-resonants followed by two lines of almost even balance;
the second begins with the reverse of the first line with the
figures maintained for the rest of the triplet. In the second
set of figures, the distributions point to a division into three
couplets, the first having lines in which the voiced and voiceless
non-resonants are in balance, the second in which the voiceless
outnumber the voiced to a great extent, and the third, in which
the distribution is midway between those of the first two couplets,
with the two lines being mirror images within the couplet.
Adding the line-by-line occurrence of resonants to voiced non-
resonants and tallying the total against the occurrence of voiceless
non-resonants, the division, again, is into three couplets, the first
and last being uneven in distribution as compared with the
middle couplet, where the figures are relatively even.

3.3 Rhyme Schemes. External and internal rhyme both figure

in this verse. Externally, the A rhyme is /nim/, occurring at the
ends of lines one, two, four, and six. This rhyme may be further
subdivided on the basis of the preceding vowel; the preceding
vowel is front, as in lines two and four, otherwise back, as in one
and six. Thus, it is possible to designate rhymes A and A'. The
B rhyme differs in that the initial consonant of the syllable is
not carried through; the rhyme is /Am/, at the ends of lines three
and five. The internal rhyme is the same as rhyme B in line two;

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 136 SCHRAMM [8]

the initial consonant of the syllable does not enter into the scheme,
i. e. DI /&am/ "people" and 1 iY /&olam/ "eternity," but the
alliteration of the voiced pharyngeal spirant is, perhaps, sig-
nificant. In lines three and four, the internal rhymes differ from
that of line 2 since the entire syllable with the same initial con-
sonant recurs. The alliteration of the ~/&/ in line two is paral-
leled by the minimal difference of the words of each rhyming set

in lines three and four, i. e. TIN /sin'6a "hate" and 'M0. /qin'a/
"envy"
and differ
11~'K only
/'ebt/ in the initial
"enmity" differconsonant,
essentiallyn~_l ./'ahbat/
in the "love"
vowel of the
first syllable. The rhyme schemes pattern according to the
following schema.
External Internal

1. A none
2. A' BB
3. B CC
4. A' DD
5. B none
6. A none

The formal division of the verse according to external rhyme

scheme is ambiguous. One possibility is a quatrain of lines one
through four (A-A'-B-A') plus a couplet echoing the second half
of the quatrain (B-A); another is the division into two discon-
tinuous triplets, the first consisting of lines one, five, and six,
interrupted by the second, which consists of lines two, three, and
four, thus: A-(A'-B-A')-B-A; a third possibility is the division
into an initial couplet (A-A') followed by a quatrain (B-A'-B-A).
The internal rhyme scheme points to a division into two discon-
tinuous triplets, with lines two, three, and four, the only lines
containing internal rhyme, set apart from lines one, five, and six.

3.4 Meters. Both types of meter, that based on vowel quan-

tity and that based on stress, occur in this poem. The first of
these is constant for all six lines and is composed of the following
succession of syllables: V- - - v - --, i. e.

/qsbdrim min zDmin qidem y 5nim/

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[9] MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES': ANALYSIS OF A POEM 137

In counterpoint, there are two stress meters. The first of these

occurs in lines one, five, and six, and configurates as
--A __ A -A A '
S ^ , i.e.

/q brirm min-zamin qed m ySiinlm/

The second stress meter occurs in lines two, three, and four,
and configurates as - - - - , i. e.

/tibaham &am sandt &olim y~?nim/

Accordingly, the verse is again divided into two discontinuous
triplets, as in the case of internal rhyme.

3.5 Verbs. There is only one finite verb in the poem, I

/yaxli/ "were able" in line five. Two infinitives occur, D~1itrM
/bab'zotam/ "in-beholding-them / in-their-beholding" at the end
of line five and 1'1~0I /lahafrid/ "to distinguish" at the beginning
of line six. Counting D'31 /yasenim/ "are asleep," the participle
at the end of line two, as a verb, at least syntactically, it will be
noted that there is a correspondence between verb occurrence and
vowel distribution:

Front-Back Verb

1. 8-3
2. 5-6 1
3. 6-5
4. 6-5
5. 3-8 2
6. 5-6 1

The verbs occur only in those lines in which back vowels out-
number front ones, and the only line containing more than one
verb, line five, is the one with the greatest disparity between
back and front vowels. This need not be the case at all, as may

be seen three
contains in line two,
front where
vowels, andthe verb
in line 0'.where
six, 0/ya'enfm/ "asleep"
two of the three

vowels of ,'1 r /lahafrid/ "to distinguish" are front.s

s I am grateful to Professor Roman Jakobson for calling my attention to
this correspondence as well as for his many other suggestions.

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 138 SCHRAMM [10]

3.6 Nouns. Masculine nouns in this poem are either singular,

as 1]9 /zamin/ "time," or plural, as D'i. /qabarfm/ "graves."

They refer either to inanimate things, as DT'1. /qabarim/
"graves,"
culine oroccur
nouns animate,
in all as
sixD'S2.
lines,/axenim/ "neighbors."
counting I11" Mas-
/tiwex/ "midst"
among them. Feminine nouns, on the other hand, are always
singular in this poem, always refer to inanimate objects, and are
restricted in their occurrence to lines two, three, and four, i. e.

113) /sandt/ "sleep / year" in line two, '$.t /sin'a! "hate" and
T . /qin'6/ "envy" in line three, 11=t_ !/'ahbdt/ "love" and
nl_'4discontinuous
two /'ebit/ "enmity" in line
triplets, four. Once
consisting again,
of lines one,afive,
division into
and six,
as opposed to lines two, three, and four, is indicated. Together
with this, the total number of nouns per line may be noted.6

1. mpi msi msi mpi

2. msi fsi msi
3. fsi fsi msi
4. fsi fsi mpa
5. mpi
6. mpa mpa
The count in lines one, five, and six, is either greater than or less
than three.

3.6 Syntax. Syntactically, one may note a progression of

non-canonic features.
"ancient ones" In linefrom
is separated one, the
themodifier
head noun1D'4'.
"'p /yaSanim/
/qabarim/
"graves." While this, in itself, need not be pointed out as being
terribly strange, the discontinuity is paralleled in line two by a
non-canonic agreement feature, where 13 /&m!/ "people," a
singular noun morphologically, has a plural predicate modifier in
I'V , /yavenim/ "asleep." Finally, in line four, the construct

I7.N /'ahbit/
sequence 112'1 "love" is separated
Kl /wal6 from
'ebatt/ "nor its complement by the
enmity."

6 a= animate, f= feminine, i= inanimate, m= masculine, p= plural, s= sin-

gular.

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[11] MOSES IBN EZRA'S 'GRAVES': ANALYSIS OF A POEM 139

3.7. Paronomasia. Word plays and paronomasia operate with-

in the line and between two lines. In line two, 11-_ /!anat/
"sleep" is at as
"are asleep" thewell
sameas time a cognate
a repeat modifier"time"
of j t/zaman/ of T3!'.in/yasenim/
line one,
since it can be interpreted as being the construct form of TI)
/gana/ "year," i. e. the people sleep for an eternal year. Lines
one and two are also linked by the rhyme words which are only
minimally different from each other by virtue of the vowel of the
second syllable. Lines three and four, as has been noted above,

both contain internal paronomasia, the words ,'$tOt /sin'a/ "hate"

and 10. /qin'a/
"enmity" being,"envy," n,71..
similarly, /'ahbat/different.
minimally "love" andLines
n112' /'ebit/
five and
six, on the other hand, are the only lines in which word plays and
paronomasia do not occur. On this basis. a division into three
couplets is suggested.

3.8. Relationship of Form to Content. Most of the formal

criteria for dividing the verse separate out lines three and four
from the rest. Thus, lines one and two state the introduction by
naming the topic and describing the scene, while the last couplet
completes the message by the statement that there is no hierarchy
in the graveyard; the middle couplet is a filler and is not essential
to the message. By the division into two discontinuous triplets,
lines one, five, and six, state the essentials of the message, while
lines two, three, and four are the descriptive filler.

4. Conclusions. It may be asked whether or not all of the

patterns which apparently emerge in this analysis were the result
of a conscious effort on the part of the poet, or whether they are
accidental or incidental. The second part of the question is the
easier to answer. When patterns such as these occur over and
over again, they certainly cannot be by mere chance. Further-
more, since these patterns differ, apparently, quite consistently
from poet to poet, genre to genre, studies such as this one may
prove valuable in ferreting out those differences in style that the
reader of literature often feels impressionistically.

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