Genesis in Poetry

Jeffrey M. Cohen

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781725250802
  9781725250819
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725250826
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Religious Poetry
• Index: Literature

If you are searching for a straightforward retelling of the book of Genesis in a modern idiom, this is not the book for you. If you are looking exclusively for a poetic rendering of the simple text, you've picked up the wrong book. If you are primarily after a textual commentary, you'll expect one that is far more expansive. If, however, you are after a lively, dramatic, highly original, and entertaining retelling of the Genesis stories in rhymed verse, which skillfully synthesizes both critical literary analysis and exotic, folkloristic, and occasionally whimsical elements--then this book is a must! The general reader will be charmed by what one influential British poet, Ann Sansom, has described as its "close rhymes and steady rhythm [which] are indeed very musical." The student of Bible and folklore will be especially interested in the detailed "Notes to the Text," providing the sources for and rationales of the many supplements to the familiar traditional text.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• CREATION
• ADAM
• EVE
• GARDEN OF EDEN
• LILITH AND THE SERPENT
• EATING OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT
• CAIN & ABEL
• NOAH AND THE ARK
• LIFE IN THE ARK
• TESTING THE WATERS
• NOAH’S LAST DAYS
• TOWER OF BABEL
• ABRAM DISCOVERS GOD
• ABRAM AND THE PROMISED LAND
• SARAI IN PERIL
• ABRAM AND LOT
• WARS OF THE KINGS
• SARAI AND HAGAR
• CIRCUMCISION AND A CHANGE OF NAME
• VISIT OF THE THREE ANGELS
• SODOM AND GOMORRAH
• LOT AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES
• LOT AND HIS DAUGHTERS
• ISAAC AND ISHMAEL
• BINDING OF ISAAC
• DEATH AND BURIAL OF SARAH
• PURCHASE OF CAVE OF MACHPELAH
• A WIFE FOR ISAAC
• JACOB AND ESAU
• PURCHASE OF THE BIRTHRIGHT
• ISAAC IN ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY
• JACOB, ESAU AND THE BIRTHRIGHT
• JACOB’S FLIGHT AND THE DREAM OF THE LADDER
• APPROACHING LABAN’S HOME
• JACOB AT LABAN’S HOME
• REUBEN AND THE MANDRAKES
• FAREWELL TO LABAN’S HOME
• JACOB AND ESAU’S REUNION
• WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL
• THE JACOB-ESAU ENCOUNTER
• DINAH
• DEATH OF RACHEL
• REUBEN AND BILHAH
• JOSEPH
• JOSEPH’S DREAMS
• KIDNAPPING AND SALE OF JOSEPH
• JUDAH AND TAMAR
• JOSEPH IN EGYPT
• THE BUTLER AND THE BAKER
• PHARAOH’S DREAMS
• JOSEPH’S RISE TO POWER
• REUNION OF JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS
• ALLEGATION OF ESPIONAGE!
• A RUSE TO BRING BENJAMIN TO EGYPT
• FURTHER TRIALS FOR THE BROTHERS
• JOSEPH DISCLOSES HIS IDENTITY
• JACOB AND FAMILY SETTLE IN EGYPT
• JACOB’S LAST DAYS
• JACOB’S DEATHBED BLESSING
• DEATH AND BURIAL OF JACOB
• THE BROTHERS’ APPREHENSION
• JOSEPH’S FINAL FAREWELL
• Notes to the Text
• NOTES