Packed into the annex of the Music Building yesterday afternoon, dozens of students and faculty members eagerly waited for over an hour to hear Dahlia Ravikovitch, one of Israel’s premier poets.
Scheduled to appear at 5 p.m., Ravikovitch did not arrive at Penn until 6:30 p.m., after missing her first train and getting off her second train in Trenton, N.J.
As the audience waited, various students and professors started the show without her — reading her poetry in both English and Hebrew, while Penn junior Jesse Rubenfeld performed several of her poems on the piano. Rubenfeld is completing an individualized major in Jewish Music.
Ravikovitch, who is considered Israel’s leading female poet, was recipient of the Israel Prize. Her work is widely taught, published and anthologized. Professor Nili Gold, a leading scholar on Ravikovitch who teaches her poetry in both English and Hebrew literature-based Asian and Middle Eastern Studies courses, organized the reading.
In introducing Ravikovitch, Gold described the many levels of interpretation within her poetry.
“While Ravikovitch’s rich language draws from the Bible and the Midrash, her introspection and ability to delve into the psyche is revolutionary,” Gold said.
Ravikovitch’s poems can be read on both a political and personal level. While Gold teaches Ravikovitch in the academic context of Jewish studies, she also finds a deeply psychological element to the poetry.
“The personal interpretations often overlap the national and social ones, while the ambiguities and the dualities enrich the texture of the poem,” Gold added.
When Ravikovitch finally arrived, she read some of 1989 collection, The Window: New and Selected Poems.
Afterwards, she entertained a question and answer session with her audience. One student asked why her poetry is so sad.
“A lot of my life was sad,” Ravikovitch said. “I was alone a great deal of my life. But I am grateful. Is this not my source of inspiration?”
Many people asked her about her “poetic inspiration.”
“Some of my poems fall off the tips of my fingers and need no rewriting,” Ravikovitch said.
“With others, just one line will come and I have to work a lot. My inspiration remains a mystery to me.”
The poetry reading was sponsored by the Jewish Studies Kutchin Seminar Series, the Middle East Center, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Hillel’s Cultural Arts Committee.
