Selected Poems (Engelse vertaling)

NOTES ON TEXT 179

8

יפה נוף משוש תבל

It is difficult to establish definitely the metre
of this poem. I have previously construed it
as Basit (Diwan and שער השיר, p. 96) and hence
vocalized לך in 1. 2; later I abandoned this view
(without giving up my theory with reference to
anacrusis; comp. note to No. 68, 1. 10, further
below) and saw in it a Tawil, whence I vocalized
מבחר השירה העברית) לך, p.קפג) without introducing
any other changes, because I believe that fa'lun

is admissible for fa'ulun (--for י-- — —); comp.

my Studiën zu den Dichtungen Jeh. ha-Levis, p. 26,
n. 2; comp. also No. 9 of this collection and the
note in Diwan, I, 137. Halper (" The Scansion,
etc." in JQR., N. S., IV, 169ff.) likewise takes the
metre for Tawil, but he does not admit a change
of metrical feet, preferring to change the text in
six places. These changes I consider quite grat-
uitous. It is inconceivable to me how a connoisseur
of language and poetry of Dr. Iialper's rank could
assume that Halevi said: ואם אין בך מלכיך (comp.
the vocalization and word-order in Jer. 8,19).
מלכיך is amorphous and anomalous, having no
analogy in Scripture; the reference to Eccles. 10.17
is without importance, for אשריך is sing, despite
the י, but even if we follow Ibn Gikatilla in declar-