Alterman, Nathan (1910–1970)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moria Codish
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Hebrew Poetry ◽  
Popular Songs ◽  
Road Scholars ◽  
Cultural Hero

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Nathan Alterman emigrated to Palestine in 1925 at the age of fifteen. One of the most prominent Hebrew poets of his time, he was among those who helped spawn modernist trends in Hebrew poetry. In addition to his work as a poet, he was an influential publicist held as a kind of cultural hero representing the Zionist ethos. His poetry is characterized by symbolism and rich figurative language. Like other modernist poets, he was interested in urbanity and its rhetoric. This led to frequent comparisons with Baudelaire. However, Alterman’s focus on the urban space is accompanied dialectically by his desire for "nature" and "the countryside road." Scholars characterize his poetry as enigmatic, and as requiring decoding. The wide spectrum of Alterman’s poetics—from popular songs with sometimes publicist nature to lyrical poems—may have helped to establish his status as a leading figure in Israeli culture.

Of Drag and Push Democracies

2016 ◽  
pp. 34-60
Author(s):  
Mickias Musiyiwa ◽  
Marianna W. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
Popular Songs

This chapter interrogates political discourse in popular songs of Shona expression with a view to establish the nature of their evaluation of state performance in Zimbabwe in the period, 2000-2015. By analysing the themes and the language of the songs (verbal, nominal and other constructions and figurative language), we aim to demonstrate the extent to which the songs, composed and performed by pro-opposition artists, objectively assess the performance of the Zimbabwean state. We exclude songs of pro-state musicians for the reason that, their assessment of state functionality is pro-state and therefore explicitly biased. They largely function as a vehicle for state propaganda, employed for the political discursive domination of the citizenry. In doing so they ignore or even glorify state repression, political violence, electoral fraud, insecurity of citizens, lawlessness and human rights violations, as well as the general degradation of the state system. Our observation is that, anti-state songs' depiction of the Zimbabwean nation-state as a case of death-resurrection is a more or less objective evaluation of the state's functionality. In addition to that, we argue that a much more objective assessment of Zimbabwe's performance should have been ‘a collapsed-and-partially-resuscitated state.'

Ode to Africa's Urban Space

2020 ◽  
pp. 166-186
Author(s):  
Floribert Patrick C. Endong ◽  
Grace Eugenie Ndobo Essoh
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Tourist Attractions ◽  
Popular Songs ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

This chapter examines Cameroonian and Nigerian pop singers' portrayals of urban cities in their respective countries of origin. Using a textual analysis of 10 popular songs composed by these pop singers, the chapter argues that popular musicians in the two countries tend sometimes to challenge negative stereotypes which over the years have represented Cameroonian and Nigerian cities exclusively as under-developed, primitive, exotic, and dangerous spaces. Through their lyrics and pop videos, these musicians often portray cities such as Douala, Nkonsamba, Bamenda, Kribi, Limbe (of Cameroon), and Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Calabar (of Nigeria) as beautiful places, fast-developing towns, lands of multiple tourist attractions as well as the homelands of very dynamic political elites. Some of these musicians, however, nuance their representations of the 9 cities mentioned above through portrayals which rather endorse a number of gloomy popular myths. By such myths, Cameroonian and Nigerian urban cities – like other African metropolises – are not immune from the common vices and challenges (notably insecurity, growing rate of criminality, pollution, and slums) plaguing even the biggest and most urbanized cities of the world.

›I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre‹ (Psalm 49:4). How ›Lyrical‹ is Hebrew Psalmody?

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gillingham
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Hebrew Poetry ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Biblical Poetry ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
Classical Poetry ◽  
The Many

AbstractThis paper discusses biblical poetry in relation to the ancient Greek-Latin tradition of lyric poetry. Since the Greek word »lyric« and the Hebrew word »psalterion« each have musical connotations, there must be some connection between biblical psalmody and lyric poetry. Indeed, the liturgical superscriptions of many psalms and the numerous hints to musical instruments and singing within them suggest that many texts were originally used for accompaniment to music and so could be seen as ›lyric poetry‹ in the strictest sense. There are, of course, key differences between ancient and biblical lyric poetry. Hebrew poems are formally marked not so much by metre or rhyme as by more general conventions of sonority and word-play, perhaps to facilitate memorisation. Furthermore, Hebrew poetry is particularly recognizable by its balanced expression of thought, a ›parallelism‹ which includes repeated or contrasting ideas and figurative language. This feature is also evident in some Hebrew prose: this ›blurring of the boundaries‹ between prose and poetry is another feature which distinguishes biblical poetry from ancient Greek or Latin lyric poetry. One other distinctive feature of psalmody is that, although rooted in the liturgy of the first Temple (950–587 BCE), and developing in the liturgy of the second Temple period, it continued to thrive even after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE. The liturgical use of the psalms resulted in its continual prominence throughout Jewish and Christian history; and because the essence of Hebrew poetry is more dependent on sense than sound this has also enabled a rich tradition of translation. So Hebrew psalmody is ›re-invented‹ through the several Greek, Latin, and Aramaic versions, as well as through the many languages of the early modern period, right up to the contemporary vernacular. In this sense psalmody is unusual: unlike ancient classical poetry it provides an ongoing and living tradition for a community of faith.

Analyzing the Potential Benefit of Microcomputer Use for Teaching Figurative Language

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold ◽  
Ilsa E. Schwarz ◽  
Molly Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Microcomputers offer the potential for increasing the effectiveness of language intervention for school-age children and adolescents who have language-learning disabilities. One promising application is in the treatment of students who experience difficulty comprehending figurative expressions, an aspect of language that occurs frequently in both spoken and written contexts. Although software is available to teach figurative language to children and adolescents, it is our feeling that improvements are needed in the existing programs. Software should be reviewed carefully before it is used with students, just as standardized tests and other clinical and educational materials are routinely scrutinized before use. In this article, four microcomputer programs are described and evaluated. Suggestions are then offered for the development of new types of software to teach figurative language.

Abstract #902: The Wide Spectrum of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 178
Author(s):  
Shwetha Mallesara Sudhakar ◽  
Shahla Nadereftekhari
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome ◽  
Androgen Insensitivity

The Evolution of Music Therapy

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 207-221
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Mastnak
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Evidence Based Medicine ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Modern Music ◽  
Guided Imagery And Music ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
International Importance ◽  
Evolution Of Music ◽  
Based Medicine

Abstract. Five overlapping eras or stages can be distinguished in the evolution of music therapy. The first one refers to the historical roots and ethnological sources that have influenced modern meta-theoretical perspectives and practices. The next stage marks the heterogeneous origins of modern music therapy in the 20th century that mirror psychological positions and novel clinical ideas about the healing power of music. The subsequent heyday of music therapeutic models and schools of thought yielded an enormous variety of concepts and methods such as Nordoff–Robbins music therapy, Orff music therapy, analytic music therapy, regulatory music therapy, guided imagery and music, sound work, etc. As music therapy gained in international importance, clinical applications required research on its therapeutic efficacy. According to standards of evidence-based medicine and with regard to clearly defined diagnoses, research on music therapeutic practice was the core of the fourth stage of evolution. The current stage is characterized by the emerging epistemological dissatisfaction with the paradigmatic reductionism of evidence-based medicine and by the strong will to discover the true healing nature of music. This trend has given birth to a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary hermeneutics for novel foundations of music therapy. Epigenetics, neuroplasticity, regulatory and chronobiological sciences, quantum physical philosophies, universal harmonies, spiritual and religious views, and the cultural anthropological phenomenon of esthetics and creativity have become guiding principles. This article should not be regarded as a historical treatise but rather as an attempt to identify theoretical landmarks in the evolution of modern music therapy and to elucidate the evolution of its spirit.

The Figurative Language Machine Recharges Its Battery

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelia Kennison ◽  
Rachel Messer
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language
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