Piyyut : liturgical epic and poetics of tradition / Michael Fishbane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fishbane, Michael, 1943- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Piyutim--History and criticism.

Piyutim.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

This volume is a study of Jewish liturgical poetry (Piyyu?t) from late antiquity in Byzantine Palestine (5-6th century CE) through 11th century in Ashkenaz (Rhineland) and in northern Egypt. This poetry is based on synagogue lectionaries composed for the Sabbath and Festivals of the Jewish ritual calendar year. The central focus is on the various genres of these liturgies and their expansion into forms of prosodic epic (from short, dense quatrains to expanded prosodic recitations that exceed hundreds of lines). Because the basis of these prayer-poems are rooted in the lectionary cycles of Scripture, and its epical account of ancient Israelite history, the liturgies transform these sources into rhymed and poetical forms in various types of epic prosody. These liturgies are thoroughly impacted by the exposition of these Scriptural sources and accounts throughout the voluminous corpus of rabbinic biblical exegesis (Midrash).

Contents:

From narrative code to liturgical epic: exemplars of the Qedushta

Variations and expansions: poetic and literary developments

Formations of an epic genre: the emergence of the Silluq

Monumental liturgical epics in Ashkenaz: types of Midrashic prosody

Modalities for the seventh day of Passover: Yom Va-Yosha‘

Other formations of liturgical epic: stylistics of the Yotzer.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (Oxford Academic, viewed on July 22, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version : Fishbane, Michael, 1943- Piyyut.

ISBN:

9780191787690

0191787698

9780192581556

0192581554

9780191028250

0191028258

OCLC:

1592856861

Publisher Number:

CIPO000397511

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license