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The Song of Songs

The Song of Songs

The World's First Great Love Poem

About the Book

“Next to Genesis, no book in the Hebrew Bible has had a stronger influence on Western literature than the Song of Songs.”
–The New York Review of Books

One of the greatest love poems ever written, The Song of Songs celebrates the sexual awakening of a young woman and her lover and the intoxicating experience of falling in love. Composed more than two thousand years ago, this book of the Old Testament is not only an essential religious and literary text, but also a source of inspiration to modern-day poets and lovers. Enhanced by an Afterword by the esteemed scholar Robert Alter and a new Foreword from the noted translator Stephen Mitchell, this definitive volume showcases Chana Bloch and Ariel Bloch’s sensuous translation which has “a lyrical purity that is delightful” (W. S. Merwin).
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Modern Library Classics Series

The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison
The Voyage Out
The Southern Woman
The Squatter and the Don
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Dark Interval
The Greek Plays
A Place in the Country
The Metamorphosis
Madame Bovary
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About the Author

Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and studied at Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University. Considered one of the preeminent translators of his generation, he has translated many classic texts, including Gilgamesh, The Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, and The Book of Job. For more information, visit stephenmitchellbooks.com. More by Stephen Mitchell
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About the Author

Robert Alter
Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, the magnificent capstone to a lifetime of distinguished scholarly work, has won the PEN Center Literary Award for Translation. His immense achievements in scholarship ranging from the eighteenth-century European novel to contemporary Hebrew and American literature earned Alter the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. More by Robert Alter
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About the Author

Ariel Bloch
Chana Bloch is the author of three books of poems and the translator of Yehuda Amichai and Dahlia Ravikovitch.

Ariel Bloch is professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Stephen Mitchell‘s many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, The Book of Job, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, Meetings with the Archangel, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, and Gilgamesh.

Robert Alter is professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of many books, including The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. More by Ariel Bloch
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About the Author

Chana Bloch
Chana Bloch is the author of three books of poems and the translator of Yehuda Amichai and Dahlia Ravikovitch.

Ariel Bloch is professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Stephen Mitchell‘s many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, The Book of Job, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, Meetings with the Archangel, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, and Gilgamesh.

Robert Alter is professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of many books, including The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. More by Chana Bloch
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