No Rattling Of Sabers »

In this collection, Esther Raizen explores the significance and value of Hebrew poetry written in response to the wars in which Israel was involved during the last fifty years. The anthology includes the works of many poets, some as well known as Nathan Altherman and Yehudah Amichai and others less known. The poems, presented in both English and Hebrew, depict war as viewed by the soldier, as reflected upon by civilians, and as a force giving rise to the creation of poetry.

Raizen explores in an introductory essay the issue of whether poetry written with a defined political message and in the context of certain historical events can function adequately on the aesthetic level. She also tracks the changes in the characteristics of Israeli war poetry from 1948 to 1991, beginning with the glorified patriotism expected in the 1930s-1940s and progressing to the critical ideas in the later years, during which poetry is characterized by understatement and cynicism.

Preface
Introduction
Poems

1948-1967
Prayer (Haiim Gouri)
The Death of the Man in the Field (Haiim Gouri)
Behold, Our Bodies are Laid Out (Haiim Gouri)
The Ones Forgotten (Haiim Gouri)
To the Memory of a Comrade (Hillel Omer)
Word from the Gray Soldiers (Hillel Omer)
A Squad in the Land (Hillel Omer)
Around the Campfire (Nathan Alterman)
The Silver Platter (Nathan Alterman)
Memorial (Uri Zvi Greenberg)
Splendor from the Splendid (Uri Zvi Greenberg)
Poem of Blessing (Uri Zvi Greenberg)
The Ones Living by Their Virtue Say (Uri Zvi Greenberg)
Hagomel (Uriel Ofeq)
And My Brother Was Silent (Amir Gilboa)
Forced March in Summer (Yehoshua Zafrir)
The Sappers (Haiim Hefer)
We Left Slowly (Haiim Hefer)
Eulogy (Moshe Tabenkin)
God Has Mercy on Kindergarten Children (Yehudah Amichai)
Two Poems About the First Battles (Yehudah Amichai)
Rain on the Battlefield (Yehudah Amichai)
An Anonymous Squad (Yehiel Mohar)
Between Sickle and Sword (Yehiel Mohar)
For the Fighters--A Lament (Ayin Tur-Malka)
Heralds of New Jerusalem (Ayin Tur-Malka)
Mirror of the Battle (Ayin Tur-Malka)
Memorial Service (Ayin Tur-Malka)
The Time and the Response (Nathan Alterman)
The Dust of Poems (Nathan Yonathan)
Without the Boy (Nathan Yonathan)
Into a Dead Zone (Mati Katz)

1967-1973
On Silver Wings (Naomi Shemer)
Parade of the Fallen (Haiim Hefer)
The Paratroopers Are Weeping (Haiim Hefer)
In the Night (Karmela Lakhish)
Missing Out (Eli Alon)
If There Is a God (Eli Alon)
Leave-Taking (Eli Alon)
In The Mount of Final Repose (Eli Alon)
Always in Anguish (Eli Alon)
[I sat upon theground] (Abba Kovner)
[My comrades] (Abba Kovner)
My Child Smells of Peace (Yehudah Amichai)
We Have No Unknown Soldiers (Yehudah Amichai)
Wildling Peace (Yehudah Amichai)
A Place of Fire (Zelda)
How Mucha Word Could Help (Zelda)
On a Stone Pillow (Haiim Gouri)
Setting-Up Camp (Yonathan Gefen)
Settlement (David Avidan)
Twenty Years in the Wadi (Dan Pagis)
When You Grow Up (Anadad Eldan)
Dead in a Bereft Horah (Yehiel Hazak)
Wake (Yehiel Hazak)
Military Call-Up (Meir Wieseltier)
Love is Progressing (Meir Wieseltier)
Return (Yoseph Sarig)
Memorial Day, 1969 (T. Carmi)
The Other Days (Haiim Hefer)

1973-1982
The Young Dead Soldiers (Haiim Hefer)
Only 20 Years Old (Gideon Rosenthal)
On the Readiness for Sacrifice (Reuven ben Yoseph)
Around the Water Near the Birds (Yair Hurvitz)
Again a Drab Khaki Light is Coming Down: Elegy (Meir Wieseltier)
Military Funeral in the Heat of Day (T. Carmi)
[I saw you] (Yehiel Hazak)
Current Account (Haiim Gouri)
Since Then (Yehudah Amichai)

1982-1991
From the Songs of the Land of Zion and Jerusalem (Yehudah Amichai)
Your Socks (Raiah Harnik)
And At Night (Raiah Harnik)
Coffins (Eli Alon)
Eulogy (Amichai Israeli)
Friends (Nathan Yonathan)
My Hand is Extended for the Peace of the Galilee (Ramy Ditzanny)
Legging Behind (Ramy Ditzanny)
A Brand Plucked from the Anti-Tank Fire (Ramy Ditzanny)
Complicated and Innovative Orthopedic Surgery (Ramy Ditzanny)
Piggy-Back (Ramy Ditzanny)
You Don't Kill Babies Twice (Dahlia Ravikovitch)
At a Time Like This (Alex L.)
On the Desire to be Precise (Natan Zach)
To Live in the Land of Israel (Aryeh Sivan)
Unpleasantness During a Memorial Service (Aryeh Sivan)
To Wither like Weeds in an Easterly Wind (Aryeh Sivan)
Concerning the Rehabilitation of the Disabled from the Wars of Israel (Aryeh Sivan)
Teacher of Defeated Hebrew Language (Eitan Kalinski)
1936-1986 (Eitan Kalinski)

1991-1994
A Siren of Love (Asher Reich)
War Night 6 (Ilan Sheinfeld)
At Nightfall, 11/27/91 (Pinhas Sadeh)
Like Beirut (Haiim Gouri)

Notes
Biographical Information
Bibliography
Author Index
About Esther Raizen