Micah Joseph Lebensohn (; (2 February 1828 – 17 February 1852), also known by the pen name Mikhal (), was one of the foremost poets and translators of the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

. He is best known for his innovative narrative Biblical romances and

pantheistic Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...

nature poetry, influenced by the

Romantic movement Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. These are characterised by "a deep pathos and a beauty of expression," and noted for their "expression of the young poet's strong longing for life and of the dread of an early dissolution which preyed on his mind."

Biography

Micha Joseph Lebensohn was born on 2 February 1828 in

, the son of '' maskilic'' poet Avraham Dov Ber Lebensohn (Adam ha-Kohen), where he received a thorough Jewish education. Having met in his father's house many prominent Jewish writers, he developed an early interest in literature. He began to translate poetry into Hebrew at the age of twelve, and at the age of sixteen composed his first original poem, ''Ha-Aḥvah'' ('Fraternity'), written to his brother Noah. As a teenager, Lebensohn, besides his perfect command of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, was privately tutored in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, French, Polish and German. By the late 1840s, Lebensohn discovered early symptoms of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. In 1849, on the advice of his doctor, he went to sanatoria abroad for medical treatment. During a winter in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, he attended the philosophy lectures of

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educato ...

at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

, and came under the influence of German Romanticism. At the same time, he became closely acquainted with scholars Shneur Sachs and Leopold Zunz, who encouraged him to write original poetry on Jewish and Biblical heroes. He also visited the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...

s of Salzbrunn and Reinerz to seek relief from the disease. He returned to Vilna in 1850, where he lived until his death shortly after his twenty-fourth birthday, on 17 February 1852. His last poem, ''Ha-tefilah'' ('Prayer'), is dedicated to 'Prayer, Daughter of Hearts'.

Literary career

In 1847, Lebensohn wrote a translation into Hebrew of the third and fourth books of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's '' Æneid'' (after Schiller's German translation), under the title ''Harisut Troya'' ('The Destruction of Troy'). The following year he wrote translations of Alfieri's ''

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered t ...

'' (as ''Aḥarit Sha’ul'') and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's '' Erlkönig'' (as ''Melekh balahot''), among other works. Other compositions of this period include translations of Arnault's ''La feuille'' (as ''Daliyyah niddaḥat'') and

Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish R ...

's ' (as ''Ha-Aravi ba-midbar''), as well as

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

on the death of M. A. Günzburg. While in Berlin, Lebensohn wrote a cycle of lyric poems, including ''Ahuva azuva'' ('Sorrowful Lover'), ''Yom huledet ahuvati'' ('My Beloved's Birthday'), ''Aḥot lanu'' ('A Sister to Us'), and ''Ḥag ha-aviv'' ('The Festival of Spring'). Lebensohn wrote his best known work, the poetry collection ''Shirei Bat-Tsiyyon'' ('Songs of a Daughter of Zion', published 1851, second edition 1869), in 1850. It consists of six

epic poems An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

on Jewish subjects with naturalistic description: ''Shelomo'' (' Solomon'), ''Kohelet'' (' Ecclesiastes'), ''Nikmat Shimshon'' ('

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

's Vengeance'), ''Yael ve-Sisra'' (' Jael and

Sisera Sisera ( he, סִיסְרָא ''Sîsərā'') was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor, who is mentioned in of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by the forces of the Israelite tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali under the com ...

'), ''Moshe al Har ha-Avarim'' (' Moses on Mount Abarim'), and ''Yehuda ha-Levi'' ('

Judah Halevi Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; he, יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi ; ar, يهوذا اللاوي ''Yahuḏa al-Lāwī''; 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, ...

'). The best-known among them, ''Shelomo'' and ''Kohelet'', contrast the optimism of a young King Solomon with the disillusionment of the monarch in his old age. In the '' Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1904),

Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 18 ...

and Peter Wiernik wrote that

Legacy

After his death, a second volume of Lebensohn's poetry entitled ''Kinor Bat-Tsiyyon'' ('Violin of a Daughter of Zion', published in 1870) was assembled by his father. It contains, alongside a number of pieces translated from German, lyric poems, love poetry, and

lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillo ...

for the Land of Israel. Lebensohn's brother-in-law, Joshua Steinberg, published a German translation of ''Shirei Bat-Tsiyyon'' entitled ''Gesänge Zion's'' in 1859. The poems ''Shelomo'' and ''Kohelet'' were published in French translation, and ''Yehuda ha-Levi'' in Russian. In 1895, a six-volume collection of his poems and those of his father appeared under the title ''Kol shire Ada"m u-Mikh"al''. Lebensohn's work had a strong influence on J. L. Gordon, his contemporary and friend, and other lyric poets of the next generation. A noted elegy entitled ''Mikhal Dim'ah'' (in the second part of ''Shirei Sefat Kodesh'') on his death was written by his father. J. L. Gordon's wrote an allegorical drama, ''Ho Aḥ'' ('O, Brother'), which is placed in the first part of ''Kol Shiray Yehudah'', and

Samuel David Luzzatto Samuel David Luzzatto ( he, שמואל דוד לוצאטו, ; 22 August 1800 – 30 September 1865), also known by the Hebrew acronym Shadal (), was an Italian Jewish scholar, poet, and a member of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. Early ...

penned a '' kinah'' in Lebenson's honor. Gordon also published the ''kinah'' ''Ofel Bat-Tsiyyon'' in Lebensohn's memory in 1877.

Published works

* * * *

References

External links

Poems by Lebensohn
at the {{DEFAULTSORT:Lebensohn, Micah Joseph 1828 births 1852 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century poets Epic poets French–Hebrew translators Hebrew-language poets Hebrew-language writers Jewish poets Jewish translators Lyric poets People of the Haskalah Romantic poets Translators from German Translators from Italian Translators from Polish Translators of Virgil Translators to Hebrew Tuberculosis deaths in Lithuania Writers from Vilnius