query: Robert Browning had mastery of epic poetry.

pos: Robert Browning Robert Browning ( 7 May 1812 -- 12 December 1889 ) was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets . His poems are known for their irony , characterization , dark humour , social commentary , historical settings , and challenging vocabulary and syntax .   Browning 's early career began promisingly , but was not a success . The long poem Pauline brought him to the attention of Dante Gabriel Rossetti , and was followed by Paracelsus , which was praised by William Wordsworth and Charles Dickens , but in 1840 the difficult Sordello , which was seen as wilfully obscure , brought his poetry into disrepute . His reputation took more than a decade to recover , during which time he moved away from the Shelleyan forms of his early period and developed a more personal style .   In 1846 Browning married the older poet Elizabeth Barrett , who at the time was considerably better known than himself . So started one of history 's most famous literary marriages . They went to live in Italy , a country he called `` my university '' , and which features frequently in his work . By the time of her death in 1861 , he had published the crucial collection Men and Women . The collection Dramatis Personae and the book-length epic poem The Ring and the Book followed , and made him a leading British poet . He continued to write prolifically , but his reputation today rests largely on the poetry he wrote in this middle period .   When Browning died in 1889 , he was regarded as a sage and philosopher-poet who through his writing had made contributions to Victorian social and political discourse -- as in the poem Caliban upon Setebos , which some critics have seen as a comment on the theory of evolution , which had recently been put forward by Darwin and others . Unusually for a poet , societies for the study of his work were founded while he was still alive . Such Browning Societies remained common in Britain and the United States until the early 20th century .   Browning 's admirers have tended to temper their praise with reservations about the length and difficulty of his most ambitious poems , particularly The Ring and the Book . Nevertheless , they have included such eminent writers as Henry James , Oscar Wilde , George Bernard Shaw , G. K. Chesterton , Ezra Pound , Jorge Luis Borges , and Vladimir Nabokov . Among living writers , Stephen King 's The Dark Tower series and A.S. Byatt 's Possession refer directly to Browning 's work .   Today Browning 's critically most esteemed poems include the monologues Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came , Fra Lippo Lippi , Andrea Del Sarto , and My Last Duchess . His most popular poems include Porphyria 's Lover , How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix , the diptych Meeting at Night , the patriotic Home Thoughts from Abroad , and the children 's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin . His abortive dinner-party recital of How They Brought The Good News was recorded on an Edison wax cylinder , and is believed to be the oldest surviving recording made in the United Kingdom of a notable person .

neg: Strange fits of passion have I known `` Strange fits of passion have I known '' is a seven-stanza poem ballad by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth . Composed during a sojourn in Germany in 1798 , the poem was first published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads ( 1800 ) . The poem describes the poet 's trip to his beloved Lucy 's cottage , and his thoughts on the way . Each of its seven stanzas is four lines long and has a rhyming scheme of a-b-a-b . The poem is written in iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter .   In the poem , the speaker narrates a nighttime ride to the cottage of his beloved Lucy , who always looks as `` fresh as a rose in June '' . The speaker begins by saying that he has experienced `` strange fits of passion '' and will recount them only to another lover ( `` in the Lover 's ear alone , / What once to me befell . '' ) . In the five following stanzas , he recounts how he wended his way on horseback `` beneath an evening-moon '' . He crossed a lea , passed through an orchard , and began to climb a hill , atop which was Lucy 's cottage . As he `` came near , and nearer still '' to `` Lucy 's cot '' , the sinking moon appeared to follow suit . As he closely approaches the cottage , the moon vanishes from sight behind the roof . A morbid thought rises unbidden to the speaker 's mind : `` O mercy ! '' he thinks . `` If Lucy should be dead ! ''   `` Strange fits of passion have I known '' is simple in form but complex in content . The dramatic first stanza ( the speaker `` will dare to tell '' of his `` strange fits of passion , '' but `` in the Lover 's ear alone '' ) quickly captivates the reader . Wordsworth then creates tension by juxtaposing the sinking moon and the approaching rider , the familiar landscape with the speaker 's strange , dreamy feelings .   It is uncertain whether the Lucy of the poem was based on a historical person or was a creation of Wordsworth 's fertile imagination . If she is real , her surname and identity are unknown , though they have been the subject of much `` diligent speculation '' in literary circles . `` The one certainty is that she is not the girl of Wordsworth 's Lucy Gray . ''   An earlier version of this poem ended with an extra verse :   I told her this : her laughter light  Is ringing in my ears :  And when I think upon that night  My eyes are dim with tears .

neg: Essay of Dramatick Poesie Essay of Dramatic Poesy by John Dryden was published in 1668 . It was probably written during the plague year of 1666 . Dryden takes up the subject that Philip Sidney had set forth in his Defence of Poesie ( 1580 ) and attempts to justify drama as a legitimate form of `` poetry '' comparable to the epic , as well as defend English drama against that of the ancients and the French .   The treatise is a dialogue between four speakers : Eugenius , Crites , Lisideius , and Neander . The four speakers represented , respectively Charles Sackville ( Lord Buchhurst and later sixth Earl of Dorset ) , Sir Robert Howard -LSB- playwright and Dryden 's brother-in-law -RSB- , Sir Charles Sedley ( Edward Malone identified him as Lisideius ) and Dryden himself ( neander means `` new man '' and implies that Dryden , as a respected member of the gentry class , is entitled to join in this dialogue on an equal footing with the three older men who are his social superiors ) . On the day that the English fleet encounters the Dutch at sea near the mouth of the Thames , the four friends take a barge downriver towards the noise from the battle . Rightly concluding , as the noise subsides , that the English have triumphed , they order the bargeman to row them back upriver as they begin a dialogue on the advances made by modern civilization . They agree to measure progress by comparing ancient arts with modern , focusing specifically on the art of drama ( or `` dramatic poesy '' ) . The four men debate a series of three topics : ( 1 ) the relative merit of classical drama ( upheld by Crites ) vs. modern drama ( championed by Eugenius ) ; ( 2 ) whether French drama , as Lisideius maintains , is better than English drama ( supported by Neander , who famously calls Shakespeare `` the greatest soul , ancient or modern '' ) ; and ( 3 ) whether plays in rhyme are an improvement upon blank verse drama -- a proposition that Neander , despite having defended the Elizabethans , now advances against the skeptical Crites ( who also switches from his original position and defends the blank verse tradition of Elizabethan drama ) . Invoking the so-called unities from Aristotle 's Poetics ( as interpreted by Italian and refined by French scholars over the last century ) , the four speakers discuss what makes a play `` a just and lively imitation '' of human nature in action . This definition of a play , supplied by Lisideius/Orrery ( whose rhymed plays had dazzled the court and were a model for the new drama ) , gives the debaters a versatile and richly ambiguous touchstone . To Crites ' argument that the plots of classical drama are more `` just , '' Eugenius can retort that modern plots are more `` lively '' thanks to their variety . Lisideius shows that the French plots carefully preserve Aristotle 's unities of action , place , and time ; Neander replies that English dramatists like Ben Jonson also kept the unities when they wanted to , but that they preferred to develop character and motive . Even Neander 's final argument with Crites over whether rhyme is suitable in drama depends on Aristotle 's Poetics : Neander says that Aristotle demands a verbally artful ( `` lively '' ) imitation of nature , while Crites thinks that dramatic imitation ceases to be `` just '' when it departs from ordinary speech -- i.e. prose or blank verse . A year later , the two brothers-in-law quarreled publicly over this third topic . See Dryden 's `` Defense of An Essay of Dramatic Poesy '' ( 1669 ) , where Dryden tries to persuade the rather literal-minded Howard that audiences expect a play to be an imitation of nature , not a surrogate for nature itself .

neg: Count Gismond `` Count Gismond '' is a poem by Robert Browning , frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue . It first appeared in 1842 in Browning 's Dramatic Lyrics .   The poem is written in 21 verses .   `` Count Gismond : Aix in Provence '' may , on one reading , be seen as a story of the vindication of innocence . A woman relates to a friend an episode of her own life , when a defender arose for her when she was caught in the toils woven by the unsuspected envy and hypocrisy of her cousins and Count Gauthier , who attempt to bring dishonor upon her on her birthday , with an accusation that she and Gauthier had been lovers . Her faith that the trial by combat between Gauthier and Gismond must end in Gismond 's victory and her vindication reflects , in this reading , the medieval atmosphere of an idealised chivalrous France .   However an alternative reading of the poem , suggested by various hints in the verse ( e.g. the absence of the narrator 's denial of her relationship with Gauthier , the evasive way she breaks off her story when Gismond arrives ) , hints that the woman may be an ` unreliable narrator ' , as in the poem ` My Last Duchess ' .   On a third interpretation , the ambiguity between these two readings is the poem 's major attribute .

neg: John Donne John Donne ( -LSB- ˈdʌn -RSB- ; 22 January 1573 -- 31 March 1631 ) was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England .   He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets . His works are noted for their strong , sensual style and include sonnets , love poems , religious poems , Latin translations , epigrams , elegies , songs , satires and sermons . His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor , especially compared to that of his contemporaries . Donne 's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes , ironies and dislocations . These features , along with his frequent dramatic or everyday speech rhythms , his tense syntax and his tough eloquence , were both a reaction against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques . His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of English society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism . Another important theme in Donne 's poetry is the idea of true religion , something that he spent much time considering and about which he often theorized . He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems . He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits .   Despite his great education and poetic talents , Donne lived in poverty for several years , relying heavily on wealthy friends . He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising , literature , pastimes , and travel . In 1601 , Donne secretly married Anne More , with whom he had twelve children . In 1615 , he became an Anglican priest , although he did not want to take Anglican orders . He did so because King James I persistently ordered it . In 1621 , he was appointed the Dean of St Paul 's Cathedral in London . He also served as a member of Parliament in 1601 and in 1614 .

neg: Armstrong Browning Library The Armstrong Browning Library is located on the campus of Baylor University in Waco , Texas , USA and is the home of the largest collections of English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning . Additionally it is thought to house the largest collection of secular stained glass in the world .

neg: Old English literature Old English literature or Anglo-Saxon literature , encompasses literature written in Old English , in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066 . `` Cædmon 's Hymn '' , composed in the 7th century , according to Bede , is often considered the oldest extant poem in English , whereas the later poem , The Grave is one of the final poems written in Old English , and presents a transitional text between Old and Middle English . The Peterborough Chronicle can also be considered a late-period text , continuing into the 12th century .   The poem Beowulf , which often begins the traditional canon of English literature , is the most famous work of Old English literature . The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study , preserving a chronology of early English history .   In descending order of quantity , Old English literature consists of : sermons and saints ' lives ; biblical translations ; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers ; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works ; laws , wills and other legal works ; practical works on grammar , medicine , geography ; and poetry . In all there are over 400 surviving manuscripts from the period , of which about 189 are considered `` major '' .   Besides Old English literature , Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works .

neg: Porphyria's Lover `` Porphyria 's Lover '' is a poem by Robert Browning which was first published as `` Porphyria '' in the January 1836 issue of Monthly Repository . Browning later republished it in Dramatic Lyrics ( 1842 ) paired with `` Johannes Agricola in Meditation '' under the title `` Madhouse Cells '' . The poem did not receive its definitive title until 1863 .   `` Porphyria 's Lover '' is Browning 's first ever short dramatic monologue , and also the first of his poems to examine abnormal psychology . Although its initial publication passed nearly unnoticed and it received little critical attention in the nineteenth century , the poem is now heavily anthologised and much studied .   In the poem , a man strangles his lover -- Porphyria -- with her hair ; '' ... and all her hair / In one long yellow string I wound / Three times her little throat around , / And strangled her . '' Porphyria 's lover then talks of the corpse 's blue eyes , golden hair , and describes the feeling of perfect happiness the murder gives him . Although he winds her hair around her throat 3 times to throttle her , the woman never cries out . The poem uses a somewhat unusual rhyme scheme : A , B , A , B , B , the final repetition bringing each stanza to a heavy rest .   A possible source for the poem is John Wilson 's `` Extracts from Gosschen 's Diary '' , a lurid account of a murder published in Blackwood 's Magazine in 1818 . Browning 's friend and fellow poet Bryan Procter acknowledged basing his 1820 `` Marcian Colonna '' on this source , but added a new detail ; after the murder , the killer sits up all night with his victim .

neg: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock `` The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock '' , commonly known as `` Prufrock '' , is the first professionally published poem by American-British poet T. S. Eliot ( 1888 -- 1965 ) . Eliot began writing `` Prufrock '' in February 1910 , and it was first published in the June 1915 issue of Poetry : A Magazine of Verse at the instigation of Ezra Pound ( 1885 -- 1972 ) . It was later printed as part of a twelve-poem pamphlet ( or chapbook ) titled Prufrock and Other Observations in 1917 . At the time of its publication , Prufrock was considered outlandish , but is now seen as heralding a paradigmatic cultural shift from late 19th-century Romantic verse and Georgian lyrics to Modernism .   The poem 's structure was heavily influenced by Eliot 's extensive reading of Dante Alighieri and makes several references to the Bible and other literary works -- including William Shakespeare 's plays Henry IV Part II , Twelfth Night , and Hamlet , the poetry of seventeenth-century metaphysical poet John Donne , and the nineteenth-century French Symbolists . Eliot narrates the experience of Prufrock using the stream of consciousness technique developed by his fellow Modernist writers . The poem , described as a `` drama of literary anguish '' , is a dramatic interior monologue of an urban man , stricken with feelings of isolation and an incapability for decisive action that is said `` to epitomize frustration and impotence of the modern individual '' and `` represent thwarted desires and modern disillusionment '' .   Prufrock laments his physical and intellectual inertia , the lost opportunities in his life and lack of spiritual progress , and he is haunted by reminders of unattained carnal love . With visceral feelings of weariness , regret , embarrassment , longing , emasculation , sexual frustration , a sense of decay , and an awareness of mortality , `` Prufrock '' has become one of the most recognised voices in modern literature .

neg: Latin poetry The history of Latin poetry can be understood as the adaptation of Greek models . The verse comedies of Plautus are considered the earliest surviving examples of Latin literature and are estimated to have been composed around 205-184 BC .   The start of Latin literature is conventionally dated to the first performance of a play in verse by a Greek slave , Livius Andronicus , at Rome in 240 BC . Livius translated Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences , using meters that were basically those of Greek drama , modified to the needs of Latin . His successors Plautus and Terence further refined the borrowings from the Greek stage and the prosody of their verse is substantially the same as for classical Latin verse .   The traditional meter of Greek epic , the dactylic hexameter , was introduced into Latin literature by Ennius ( 239-169 BC ) , virtually a contemporary of Livius , who substituted it for the jerky Saturnian meter in which Livius had been composing epic verses . Ennius moulded a poetic diction and style suited to the imported hexameter , providing a model for ` classical ' poets such as Virgil and Ovid .   The late republic saw the emergence of Neoteric Poets , notably Catullusrich young men from the Italian provinces , conscious of metropolitan sophistication , and looking to the scholarly Alexandrian poet Callimachus for inspiration . Catullus shared the Alexandrian 's preference for short poems and wrote within a variety of meters borrowed from Greece , including Aeolian forms such as hendecasyllabic verse , the Sapphic stanza and Greater Asclepiad , as well as iambic verses such as the choliamb and the iambic tetrameter catalectic ( a dialogue meter borrowed from Old Comedy ) .   Horace , whose career crossed the divide between republic and empire , followed Catullus ' lead in employing Greek lyrical forms , identifying with Alcaeus of Mytilene , composing Alcaic stanzas , and also with Archilochus , composing poetic invectives in the Iambus tradition ( in which he adopted the metrical form of the Epode or ` Iambic Distich ' ) . Horace was a contemporary of Virgil and , like the epic poet , he wrote verses in dactylic hexameter , but in a conversational and epistolary style . Virgil 's hexameters are generally regarded as `` the supreme metrical system of Latin literature . ''

neg: Tagelied The Tagelied ( dawn song ) is a particular form of mediaeval German-language lyric , taken and adapted from the Provençal troubadour tradition ( in which it was known as the alba ) by the German Minnesinger . Often in three verses , it depicts the separation of two lovers at the break of day .   An especially popular version of the Tagelied was the Wächterlied , or watchman 's song , in which a trusted watchman warns the knight to depart . This form was introduced into German use by Wolfram von Eschenbach . The form was popular in German-speaking regions from the 13th to the 16th centuries .   The form of the Wechsel ( alternating verses by the knight and the lady , but not addressed directly to each other , so not quite a dialogue as now understood ) was introduced by Dietmar von Aist and Heinrich von Morungen . The tagelied 's form and prosody varies over time and with individual poet . The tagelied does not even consistently use refrains . However , the subject matter of the song made it a very popular one , and the form 's conventions showed up in other lyric poetry and dramatic poetry .   Important motifs of the Tagelied are the depiction of daybreak , the warning to depart , the lament at parting and the lady 's final permission to the knight to go ( the urloup ) . Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet , act 2 , scene 2 , shows the influence of the dawn song as well , as the two lovers argue over the dawn and the need for departure .   Particular exponents of the genre were among others Heinrich von Morungen , Wolfram von Eschenbach , Walther von der Vogelweide and later Oswald von Wolkenstein . Modern poets who have drawn on the tradition of the Tagelied include Rainer Maria Rilke , Ezra Pound and Peter Rühmkorf .   One of Wolfram von Eschenbach 's more famous Tagelieder stays true to the motifs of depictions of daybreak , warning to depart and lament at parting and the woman 's final permission . The poem begins with a depiction of daybreak and the watchman 's whistle that warns the lovers that the man must depart . What separates this poem from the rest of Wolframs poems is his poetic depiction of daybreak as a monster whose `` talons have struck through the clouds '' and are tearing the lovers apart . This violent imagery adds a sense of desperation not seen in other Tagelieder . The man mourns the fact that he must leave and is angry at the watchman 's song that `` swells the man with discontent . '' The woman also laments the sound of the whistle , telling the watchman ```` sing what you like , how often you have stolen him from my arms though never from my heart . '' She then asks her lover to stay until she finally , after one last embrace , accepts his departure .

neg: The Great Duke of Florence The Great Duke of Florence is an early Caroline era stage play , a tragicomedy written by Philip Massinger , and first published in 1636 . It has been called `` one of Massinger 's best dramas , '' and `` a masterpiece of dramatic construction . ''   A play titled The Great Duke was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert , the Master of the Revels , on 5 July 1627 ; the scholarly consensus interprets this as referring to Massinger 's play . Topical allusions in the text have been read as indicating a date of authorship between October 1623 and March 1625 . The play was acted by Queen Henrietta 's Men at the Cockpit Theatre , and was published in quarto in 1636 by the bookseller John Marriot ; Massinger dedicated the work to one of his patrons , Sir Robert Wiseman , in gratitude for his `` supportment and protection . '' The quarto includes two commendatory poems , one by John Ford .   Massinger is thought to have based his plot on the traditional story of Ethelwald and Elfrida , available to him in several versions ; he may also have been influenced by an earlier play , A Knack to Know a Knave .   The play had no other publications or revival productions in its own era or in subsequent generations -- somewhat surprisingly , since critics have tended to regard it highly . Algernon Charles Swinburne called it `` remarkable even among Massinger 's works for elegance and grace of execution ; '' William Gifford , in his edition of Massinger 's works , wrote that `` It is impossible not to be charmed with the manner in which this play is written . '' In the play , Massinger exploits the richness of a courtly style , full of `` gay flourishes of language '' ( Act IV , scene ii ) , perhaps more successfully than in any other of his works . Though generally classified as a tragicomedy , there is nothing tragic and little serious in it ; the play can just as correctly be called a comedy of manners .

neg: John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury ( c. 1370 -- c. 1451 ) was a monk and poet , born in Lidgate , near Haverhill , Suffolk , England .   Lydgate 's poetic output is prodigious , amounting , at a conservative count , to about 145,000 lines . He explored and established every major Chaucerian genre , except such as were manifestly unsuited to his profession , like the fabliau . In the Troy Book ( 30,117 lines ) , an amplified translation of the Trojan history of the thirteenth-century Latin writer Guido delle Colonne , commissioned by Prince Henry ( later Henry V ) , he moved deliberately beyond Chaucer 's Knight 's Tale and his Troilus , to provide a full-scale epic .   The Siege of Thebes ( 4716 lines ) is a shorter excursion in the same field of chivalric epic . The Monk 's Tale , a brief catalog of the vicissitudes of Fortune , gives a hint of what is to come in Lydgate 's massive Fall of Princes ( 36,365 lines ) , which is also derived , though not directly , from Boccaccio 's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium .   The Man of Law 's Tale , with its rhetorical elaboration of apostrophe , invocation , and digression in what is essentially a saint 's legend , is the model for Lydgate 's legends of St. Edmund ( 3693 lines ) and St. Alban ( 4734 lines ) , both local monastic patrons , as well as for many shorter saints ' lives , though not for the richer and more genuinely devout Life of Our Lady ( 5932 lines ) .

neg: The Triumph of Time `` The Triumph of Time '' is a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne , published in Poems and Ballads in 1866 . It is in adapted ottava rima and is full of elaborate use of literary devices , particularly alliteration . The theme , which purports to be autobiographical , is that of rejected love . The speaker deplores the ruin of his life , and in tones at times reminiscent of Hamlet , craves oblivion , for which the sea serves as a constant metaphor .

neg: Dante Symphony A Symphony to Dante 's Divine Comedy , S. 109 , or simply the `` Dante Symphony '' , is a program symphony composed by Franz Liszt . Written in the high romantic style , it is based on Dante Alighieri 's journey through Hell and Purgatory , as depicted in The Divine Comedy . It was premiered in Dresden in November 1857 , with Liszt himself conducting , and was unofficially dedicated to the composer 's friend and future son-in-law Richard Wagner . The entire symphony takes approximately 45 minutes to perform .   Some critics have argued that the Dante Symphony is not so much a symphony in the classical sense as it is two descriptive symphonic poems . Regardless , Dante consists of two movements , both in a loosely structured ternary form with little use of thematic transformation .

neg: Scenes from Goethe's Faust Scenes from Goethe 's Faust ( Szenen aus Goethes Faust ) has been described as the height of composer Robert Schumann 's accomplishments in the realm of dramatic music . The work was written between 1844 and 1853 and is scored for SATB chorus , boys ' chorus , orchestra , and a number of solo parts which , even with doubling , require seven solo singers , although eight ( three sopranos , two mezzos , one tenor , one baritone , and one bass ) is the usual number for a performance . Schumann never saw all three parts of the work performed in the same concert , or published together . Eric Sams comments ` There is no coherence in the orchestration , which audibly dates from two different periods ( hand-horns in Part III , valve-horns elsewhere ) ' , leading him to conclude that Schumann did not conceive the work as a whole , although late nineteenth-century ideas of performance mean that in the modern era the piece is predominantly heard with all three parts .   Schumann 's work on what he labeled an oratorio began in 1842 . This was just over a decade after the death of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who completed Part Two of the dramatic poem Faust in his final year . Many contemporary readers of Faust found Goethe 's epic poem daunting and difficult to grasp . Goethe himself declared only Mozart fit to write the music for it ( though Mozart died in 1791 , almost 20 years prior to the completion of Part One of Faust ) .   Schumann explained the weight of the task before him in an 1845 letter to Felix Mendelssohn : '' -LSB- A -RSB- ny composer would not only be judged by his treatment of one of the seminal and most-widely acclaimed works in German literature , but would also be setting himself up to be compared to Mozart . '' Yet despite Schumann 's expressed reservations about the work , it has been labeled his `` magnum opus . '' Schumann is '' -LSB- d -RSB- eeply sensitive to the all-inclusiveness of Goethe 's drama -LSB- . -RSB- '' From the work 's dark and tense overture , to its elegant and tranquil conclusion , Schumann opens wide `` a manifold musical world '' that coherently draws together elements of `` lied , horror opera , grand opera , oratorio , and church music . ''   Schumann 's music suggests the struggle between good and evil at the heart of Goethe 's work , as well as Faust 's tumultuous search for enlightenment and peace . After the overture , the music depicts Faust 's wooing of Gretchen . For Gretchen 's story , Schumann employs operatic music , beginning with a love duet , proceeding to Gretchen 's passionate and desperate aria , and concluding with a church scene . The second part of the work opens with stark contrast : on the one hand , the lively , fresh music of Ariel and the spirits calls Faust to savor the beauties of nature ; on the other hand , in the scene following , Schumann 's restless orchestration brings to the fore Faust 's delusions upon hearing of a new world being created and its rapturous promise of an everlasting present . The final scenes , drawing the work to its placid yet unsettled conclusion , hold some of Schumann 's best choral writing .   Scenes from Goethe 's Faust has often been overlooked within Schumann 's impressive oeuvre , but has enjoyed a resurgence since the 1970s . The piece has been deemed among Schumann 's most moving works , and a pinnacle of his quintessential Romantic concern with the extra-musical ( and especially literary ) potential of musical expression .

neg: Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition The Definitive Edition of the verse of Rudyard Kipling ( 1865 -- 1936 ) was published in 1940 in London by Hodder and Stoughton , Ltd and in Edinburgh by R. R. Clark . It is a one-volume collection and was printed on India paper .   The bibliographical information given on the verso of the title page ( the ` Edition notice ' ) of the 1958 reprint of the 1940 edition gives the following information ( years link to corresponding '' -LSB- year -RSB- in poetry '' article ) :  The first edition of Kipling 's Collected Verse ( 1885 -- 1912 ) was published in 1912 , with a reprint in the same year .  The second collected edition , the Inclusive Edition ( 1885 -- 1918 ) was first published in 3 volumes in December 1919 . A second impression came out in April 1920 .  This edition ( inclusive of his verse from 1885 to 1918 ) was issued as a single volume in October 1921 , and went through 18 further impressions by August 1926 .  The third collected edition ( Inclusive Edition , 1885 - 1926 ) appeared as a single volume in September 1927 . 11 more impressions came out by October 1931 .  The fourth Inclusive Edition of Rudyard Kipling 's Verse ( 1885 -- 1932 ) , in one volume , appeared in October 1933 , and was followed by six impressions up to November 1939 .  The Definitive Edition of Rudyard Kipling 's Verse appeared posthumously in 1940 . It was reprinted -- the edition notice of the 1958 reprint states -- in 1941 , 1949 and 1958 .   Many other versions of Kipling 's verse have been made . These include  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1913 ) Songs from Books , London , Macmillan .  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1925 ) A choice of songs from the verse of Rudyard Kipling , London , Methuem .  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1941 ) A Choice of Kipling 's Verse made by T.S.Eliot , with an essay on RUDYARD KIPLING , London , Faber and Faber .  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1986 ) Early verse by Rudyard Kipling , 1879-1889 : unpublished , uncollected , and rarely collected poems , Oxford , Clarendon Press .  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1992 ) Rudyard Kipling : selected poetry , London , Penguin .  Kipling , Rudyard ( 1994 ) The collected poems of Rudyard Kipling , introduction and notes by R. T. Jones , Ware , Wordsworth Editions .

neg: Timeline of Shakespeare criticism Timeline of Shakespeare criticism is an informal term that presents a chronological collection of critical quotations about William Shakespeare and his works , which illustrate the article Shakespeare 's reputation .   Shakespeare enjoyed recognition in his own time , but in the 17th century , poets and authors began to consider him as the supreme dramatist and poet of all times of the English language . In fact , even today , no other dramatist has been performed even remotely as often on the British ( and later the world ) stage as Shakespeare   Since then , several editors and critics of theater began to focus on the dramatic text and the language of Shakespeare , creating a study that focused on extracting all the power of his literary texts , being used in studies on the printed page rather than in the theater . This attitude reached a high point with the Romantics , which saw his figure as a genius , prophet , and Bard -- and continued important in the last century , receiving analysis not only by poets and authors , but also by psychoanalysts , psychologists and philosophers .

neg: Poem of Almería The Poem of Almería ( Spanish Poema de Almería ) is a medieval Latin epic poem in 385 1/2 leonine hexameters . It was appended to the end of the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris , an account of the reign of Alfonso VII of León and Castile , and narrates the victorious military campaign of 1147 that culminated in the conquest of the port of Almería . The poem , as it survives , is unfinished , abruptly ending mid-line before recounting the actual siege of Almería itself . Of its surviving lines , 293 consist of `` dénombrement épique , a stirring roll-call of the chief members and contingents of the army '' .   The Poem has aroused interest among scholars and critics for the light it may shed on the origins and development of vernacular epic ( the cantares de gesta ) and on the nature of Iberian aristocratic and military customs . It has been described as `` a relict of incomparable interest for the cultural archaeology of the twelfth century '' and `` a splendid reflection of its time and , in this regard , full of gold also as literature '' . Stylistically , the Poem is indebted to the parallelism of the poetry of the Hebrew Bible and to the classical models of Virgil and Ovid .

neg: William Blake in popular culture William Blake 's body of work has influenced countless writers , poets and painters , and his legacy is often apparent in modern popular culture . His artistic endeavours , which included songwriting in addition to writing , etching and painting , often espoused a sexual and imaginative freedom that has made him a uniquely influential figure , especially since the 1960s . After Shakespeare , far more than any other canonical writer , his songs have been set and adapted by popular musicians including U2 , Jah Wobble , Tangerine Dream , Bruce Dickinson and Ulver . Folk musicians , such as M. Ward , have adapted or incorporated portions of his work in their music , and figures such as Bob Dylan , Alasdair Gray and Allen Ginsberg have been influenced by him . The genre of the graphic novel traces its origins to Blake 's etched songs and Prophetic Books , as does the genre of fantasy art .

neg: List of Emily Dickinson poems This is a list of poems by Emily Dickinson . In addition to the list of first lines which link to the poems ' texts , the table notes each poem 's publication in several of the most significant editions of Dickinson 's poetry -- the `` manuscript books '' created by Dickinson herself but not published as such until 1981 ; the seven volumes of poetry published posthumously from 1890 to 1945 ; the cumulative collections of 1924 , 1930 , and 1937 ; and the scholarly editions of 1955 and 1998 . The entire table is sortable by clicking on the icons following the column headings .   Important publications which are not represented in the table include the 10 poems published ( anonymously ) during Dickinson 's lifetime ; and editions of her letters , published from 1894 on , which include some poems within their texts . In all these cases , the poem itself occurs in the list , but these specific publications of the poem are not noted .


query: Ramadan is when the Bible was revealed.

pos: Ramadan Ramadan ( -LSB- ˌræməˈdɑːn -RSB- رمضان , -LSB- ramaˈdˤaːn -RSB- ; In Arabic phonology , it can be -LSB- -LSB- rɑmɑˈdˤɑːn , ramadˤɑːn , ræmæˈdˤɑːn -RSB- -RSB- , depending on the region . also romanized as Ramazan , Ramadhan , or Ramathan ) is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar , and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting ( Sawm ) to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief . This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam . The month lasts 29 -- 30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon , according to numerous biographical accounts compiled in the hadiths .   The word Ramadan comes from the Arabic root ramiḍa or ar-ramaḍ , which means scorching heat or dryness . Fasting is fardh ( obligatory ) for adult Muslims , except those who are suffering from an illness , travelling , are elderly , pregnant , breastfeeding , diabetic , chronically ill or going through menstrual bleeding . Fasting the month of Ramadan was made obligatory ( wājib ) during the month of Sha ` ban , in the second year after the Muslims migrated from Mecca to Medina . Fatwas have been issued declaring that Muslims who live in regions with a natural phenomenon such as the midnight sun or polar night should follow the timetable of Mecca , but the more commonly accepted opinion is that Muslims in those areas should follow the timetable of the closest country to them in which night can be distinguished from day .   While fasting from dawn until sunset , Muslims refrain from consuming food , drinking liquids , smoking , and engaging in sexual relations . Muslims are also instructed to refrain from sinful behavior that may negate the reward of fasting , such as false speech ( insulting , backbiting , cursing , lying , etc. ) and fighting except in self-defense . Food and drinks are served daily , before dawn and after sunset , referred to as Suhoor and Iftar respectively . Spiritual rewards ( thawab ) for fasting are also believed to be multiplied within the month of Ramadan . Fasting for Muslims during Ramadan typically includes the increased offering of salat ( prayers ) , recitation of the Quran and an increase of doing good deeds and charity .

neg: Names of God in Judaism The name of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible is the Tetragrammaton YHWH . It is frequently anglicized as Jehovah and Yahweh and written in most English editions of the Bible as `` the '' owing to the Jewish tradition of reading it as Adonai ( `` My Lords '' ) out of respect .   Rabbinic Judaism describes seven names which are so holy that , once written , should not be erased : The Tetragrammaton ( whether written YHWH or Adonai ) , El ( `` God '' ) , Eloah ( `` God '' ) , Elohim ( `` Gods '' ) , Shaddai ( `` God Almighty '' ) , Ehyeh , and Tzevaot ( '' -LSB- of -RSB- Hosts '' ) . Other names are considered mere epithets or titles reflecting different aspects of God , but chumrah sometimes dictates special care such as the writing of `` G-d '' instead of `` God '' in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav ( -LSB- , `` 9-6 '' ) instead of Yōd-Hē ( -LSB- , `` 10-5 '' but also `` Jah '' ) for the number fifteen in Hebrew .   The documentary hypothesis proposes that the Torah was compiled from various original sources , two of which ( the Jahwist and the Elohist ) are named for their usual names for God ( YHWH and Elohim respectively ) .  In early versions of the King James Bible the book of Psalms 68:4 clearly states that the name is Yah and not God . In later versions they began to add the letter j in place of the letter y to make it more `` English friendly '' .  The same King James Bible Psalms 82:6 -7 states that the gods will be judged :  I have said , Ye are gods ; and all of you are the children of the most High .  But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes . ''  Yah in Hebrew according to the tetragrammaton would be shown as יָהּ ( Yah ) which means `` self existing one '' .  God , or El was used to describe the fallen angels that caused themselves to be worshipped as deities before the flood in Noah 's time . ( See Genesis 6:2 . Best to read in its entirety . )  As in the reference to who `` the sons of god '' are read Job 1:6 -7 and Job 38:7 .

neg: Islamic holy books Islamic holy books are the texts which Muslims believe were authored by God to various prophets throughout humanity 's history . All these books , in Muslim belief , promulgated the code and laws that God ordained for those people .   Muslims believe the Quran to be the final revelation of God to man , and a completion and confirmation of previous scriptures . Despite the primacy that Muslims place upon the Quran as God 's final word , Islam speaks of respecting all the previous scriptures , and belief in all the revealed books is an article of faith in Islam .   Among the books considered to be revealed , the four mentioned by name in the Quran are the Tawrat revealed to Musa , the Zabur revealed to Dawud , the Injil revealed to Jesus , and the Quran revealed to Muhammad .

neg: Jewish Christian Jewish Christians , also Hebrew Christians or Judeo-Christians , were the original members of the Jewish movement that later became Christianity . In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who accepted Jesus as a venerable person or the Messiah ( Christ ) . As Christianity grew and developed , Jewish Christians became only one strand of the early Christian community , characterised by combining the confession of Jesus as Christ with continued adherence to Jewish traditions such as Sabbath observance , observance of the Jewish calendar , observance of Jewish laws and customs , circumcision , and synagogue attendance , and by a direct genetic relationship to the earliest Jewish Christians .   The term `` Jewish Christian '' appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians , both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries . It is also a term used for Jews who converted to Christianity but kept their Jewish heritage and traditions .   1st century `` Jewish Christians '' were totally faithful religious Jews . They differed from other contemporary Jews only in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah . Those that taught that Gentile converts to Christianity ought to adopt more Jewish practices than the Church had already included , however , were called `` Judaizers '' . Though the Apostle Peter was initially sympathetic , the Apostle Paul opposed the teaching at the Incident at Antioch and at the Council of Jerusalem , where Paul 's teaching was accepted by the whole Church . Nevertheless , Judaizing continued for several centuries , particularly among Jewish Christians .   As Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world , Christians diverged from their Jewish and Jerusalem roots . Jewish Christianity , initially strengthened despite persecution by Jerusalem Temple officials , fell into decline during the Jewish-Roman wars ( 66-135 ) and the growing anti-Judaism perhaps best personified by Marcion ( c. 150 ) . With persecution by the orthodox Christians from the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century , Jewish Christians sought refuge outside the boundaries of the Empire , in Arabia and further afield . Within the Empire and later elsewhere it was dominated by the Gentile based Christianity which became the State church of the Roman Empire and which took control of sites in the Holy Land such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Cenacle and appointed subsequent Bishops of Jerusalem .

neg: Vayeira Vayeira , Vayera , or ( -- Hebrew for `` and He appeared , '' the first word in the parashah ) is the fourth weekly Torah portion ( , parashah ) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading . It constitutes . The parashah has the most words ( but not the most letters or verses ) of any of the weekly Torah portions in the Book of Genesis , and is made up of 7,862 Hebrew letters , 2,085 Hebrew words , and 147 verses , and can occupy about 252 lines in a Torah Scroll ( , Sefer Torah ) . ( In the Book of Genesis , Parashah Miketz has the most letters , and Parashiyot Noach and Vayishlach have the most verses . )   Jews read it on the fourth Sabbath after Simchat Torah , in October or November . Jews also read parts of the parashah as Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah . is the Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashanah , and is the Torah reading for the second day of Rosh Hashanah . In Reform Judaism , is the Torah reading for the one day of Rosh Hashanah .   The parashah tells the stories of Abraham 's three visitors and Abraham 's bargaining with God over Sodom and Gomorrah , Lot 's two visitors and Lot 's bargaining with the Sodomites , the flight of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah , how Abraham once again passed off his wife Sarah as his sister , the birth of Isaac , the expulsion of Hagar , disputes over wells , and the binding of Isaac .

neg: Mahdi In Islamic eschatology , the Mahdi ( مهدي , ISO 233 : `` guided one '' ) is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for five , seven , nine , or nineteen years ( according to differing interpretations ) before the Day of Judgement ( , literally , the Day of Resurrection ) and will rid the world of evil .   There is no explicit reference to the Mahdi in the Qur ` an , but references to him are found in hadith ( the reports and traditions of Muhammad 's teachings collected after his death ) . According to Islamic tradition , the Mahdi 's tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ ( Isa ) , who is to assist the Mahdi against the Masih ad-Dajjal ( literally , the `` false Messiah '' or Antichrist ) . Differences exist in the concept of the Mahdi between Shia Muslims and adherents of the Sunni tradition . For Sunnis , the Mahdi is the Muslims ' future leader who is yet to come . For most Shia Muslims , the Mahdi was born but disappeared and will remain hidden from humanity until he reappears to bring justice to the world , a doctrine known as the Occultation . For Twelver Shia , this `` hidden Imam '' is Muhammad al-Mahdi , the Twelfth Imam .   Throughout history , various individuals have claimed to be the Mahdi . These have included Muhammad Jaunpuri , founder of the Mahdavia sect ; the Báb ( Siyyid Ali Muhammad ) , founder of Bábism ; Muhammad Ahmad , who established the Mahdist state in Sudan in the late 19th century ; and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , founder of the Ahmadiyya sect .

neg: Jewish Talmudic Calendar The Jewish Talmudic Calendar is a lunisolar calendar using Tishri-years , observed by the Jewish people since the Late Antiquity ( AD 300-700 ) . While it is based on Nisan-years , which began from the prebiblical Babylonian times ( c. 2000 BC ) , and the Tishri-years was formed in the time of David ( c. 1000 BC ) , the full formation of the Jewish Talmudic Calendar was during the time of the writing of Talmud ( c. AD 300-600 ) , usually attributed to Hillel II .

neg: Man of God Man of God is a biblical title of respect applied to prophets and beloved religious leaders . The term appears 78 times in 72 verses of the Bible , in application to up to 13 individuals :   Moses ( Deut . 33:1 ; Josh . 14:6 ; Ps . 90:1 ; Ezra 3:2 ; 1 Chron . 23:14 ; 2 Chron . 30:16 ) Moses is the only person called `` man of God '' in the Torah .  The angel of the Lord who appeared to Samson 's mother ( Judges 13:6 , 8 ) whom she may have taken to be a prophet ( Leviticus Rabbah 1:1 )  The man who chastised the Priest Eli ( 1 Sam . 2:27 ) whom Sifre identifies as Samuel 's father Elkanah ( Sifre to Deut . 342:4 )  Samuel ( 1 Sam . 9:6 , 7 , 8 , 10 )  David ( Neh . 12:24 , 36 ; 2 Chron . 8:14 )  Shemaiah ( 1 Kings 12:22 ; 2 Chron . 11:2 )  The man from Judah who cried out against King Jeroboam of Israel ( 1 Kings 13:1 ( twice ) , 4 , 5 , 6 ( twice ) , 7 , 8 , 11 , 12 , 14 ( twice ) , 21 , 26 , 29 , 31 ; 2 Kings 23:16 , 17 ) whom some rabbis identify as Iddo ( Sifre to Deut . 342:4 ; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 2:85 ; Zohar 2:64 a )  Elijah ( 1 Kings 17:18 , 24 ; 2 Kings 1:9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 )  The man who told King Ahab of Israel that Israel could defeat the Arameans ( 1 Kings 20:28 ) whom Sifre identifies as Micah ( Sifre to Deut . 342:4 ) , but who from context might also be Elijah  Elisha ( 2 Kings 4:7 , 9 , 16 , 21 , 22 , 25 , 27 ( twice ) , 40 , 42 ; 5:8 , 14 , 15 , 20 ; 6:6 , 9 , 10 , 15 ; 7:2 , 17 , 18 , 19 ; 8:2 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 11 , 19 )  Hanan son of Igdaliah ( Jer . 35:4 )  The man who warned King Amaziah of Judah not to go to war ( 2 Chronicles 25:7 , 9 ( twice ) ) , whom some rabbis identify as Amoz ( Sifre to Deut . 342:4 ; Seder Olam Rabbah 20 )  Saint Timothy ( 1 Timothy 6:11 )   Category : Hebrew Bible words and phrases  Category : New Testament words and phrases

neg: Matthew 2:18 Matthew 2:18 is the eighteenth verse of the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament . Herod has ordered the Massacre of the Innocents and this verse quotes from the Book of Jeremiah to show that this event was predicted by the prophets .   In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads :  In Rama was there a voice heard ,  lamentation , and weeping , and  great mourning , Rachel weeping for  her children , and would not be  comforted , because they are not .   The World English Bible translates the passage as :  `` A voice was heard in Ramah ,  lamentation , weeping and great mourning ,  Rachel weeping for her children ;  she would n't be comforted ,  because they are no more . ''   For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 2:18   The verse is a quotation from Jeremiah 31:15 . This is the first of three times Matthew quotes Jeremiah , the others being Matthew 16:14 and Matthew 24:9 . The verse is similar to the Masoretic , but is not an exact copy implying that it could be a direct translation from the Hebrew . In Jeremiah this verse is a description of Rachel , the long dead mother of the northern tribes , mourning as her children are taken into captivity by the Assyrians . This mourning thus addresses born the Massacre of the Innocents , but the reference to a forced exile can also refer to the Holy Family 's Flight into Egypt .   This has long been considered one of Matthew 's more elusive Old Testament references . Scholars have pointed out a number of problems with the context and original meaning . Rachel 's tomb has long been associated with Bethlehem an important link between here and the massacre taking place there . However , Brown notes that this view is likely incorrect . Genesis reports that Rachel died and was buried while travelling to Bethlehem and implies that she was still some distance away from the town . In this verse the author of Jeremiah seems to be asserting that she was buried in Ramah , a town some five miles from Bethlehem . The Hebrew word Ramah could also be translated as `` on high '' and some versions of Jeremiah use this wording . `` A voice was heard on high '' would seem to fit more logically with Matthew 's narrative , but it is fairly clear that the town is being referred to .   Another difficulty is that Bethlehem is in Judah , and thus its people were regarded as the children of Leah not Rachel . The verse is also taken somewhat out of context . The passage in Jeremiah is actually one of joy ending with the information that God had saved the Israelites and the children would be unharmed . This is not true of the children of Bethlehem who find no last minute succor . However in the Catholic and Orthodox churches the Holy Innocents were proclaimed to all be saints , thus meeting Jeremiah 's message of deliverance .

neg: Book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible . Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra -- Nehemiah , the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era . Its subject is the Return to Zion following the close of the Babylonian captivity , and it is divided into two parts , the first telling the story of the first return of exiles in the first year of Cyrus the Great ( 538 BC ) and the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem in the sixth year of Darius I ( 515 BC ) , the second telling of the subsequent mission of Ezra to Jerusalem and his struggle to purify the Jews from what the book calls the sin of marriage with non-Jews . Together with the Book of Nehemiah , it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible .   Ezra is written to fit a schematic pattern in which the God of Israel inspires a king of Persia to commission a leader from the Jewish community to carry out a mission ; three successive leaders carry out three such missions , the first rebuilding the Temple , the second purifying the Jewish community , and the third sealing of the holy city itself behind a wall . ( This last mission , that of Nehemiah , is not part of the Book of Ezra . ) The theological program of the book explains the many problems its chronological structure presents . It probably appeared in its earliest version around 399 BC , and continued to be revised and edited for several centuries before being accepted as scriptural in the early Christian era .

neg: Books of Kings In the Christian Bible , the two Books of Kings ( commonly referred to as 1 Kings and 2 Kings , or First Kings and Second Kings ) conclude a series of books often referred to as the Deuteronomistic history , running from Joshua through Judges , Samuel and Kings , but not Chronicles , which many scholars believe was written to provide a theological explanation for the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by Babylon in c. 586 BCE and a foundation for a return from exile .   In the Hebrew Bible , Kings is a single book called the Book of Kings ( , Sepher M'lakhim ) , the fourth book of Nevi'im , the second division of the Tanakh , in the sub-group called the Former Prophets . In the Septuagint , Samuel and Kings were divided into four books and Kings became III and IV Kings ( Βασιλειῶν , `` Kings '' ) .   The two Books of Kings present a history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon , a period of some 400 years .

neg: Synagogue Church Synagogue Church is a small Christian church in the heart of Nazareth known by this name because above its doorway is an embedded sign : `` the synagogue '' . The structure is currently controlled by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church . Its floor is sunken about 1.5 meters underground , possibly built atop a Crusader church dating from the 12th century . The church was under the control of the Franciscans until the 18th century , when the ruler Zahir al-Umar passed it to the Greek Catholics .  According to Christian tradition , the church is built on the ruins of the ancient Nazareth synagogue where Jesus studied and prayed . In addition , it is where one Sabbath day Jesus went to preach . In two Gospels ( Matthew 13:54 -58 , Mark 6:1 -6 ) , his fellow townspeople got angry with him . Because he was one of them , they did n't trust him to have the authority to preach in that way and to perform miracles . He was amazed at their lack of faith and concluded that a prophet is not honoured in his own home town . In Luke 4:14 -30 , the story differs a bit : There he reads from Isaiah 61:1,2 and the worshippers are pleased . But he tells them that prophets are called to do their work in foreign places rather than at home , because they are not accepted in their own home town . In doing this , he also implicitly declares himself as the Messiah . This sermon infuriates the listeners , who drag him to a cliff to throw him over , but he simply walks through the crowd and leaves .   Little is known of the years Jesus spent in Nazareth , leading scholars to describe this time as `` the hidden life '' or `` the silent years '' . It is thus all the more significant for Christian visitors to find a lone place where such silence is broken -- the Synagogue Church . In 570 , an Italian visitor described the synagogue , and reported that the original Bible was still there , including the bench where Jesus used to sit .

neg: Year of Sorrow In the Islamic tradition , the Year of Sorrow ( -LSB- عام الحزن , ` Ām al-Ḥuzn -RSB- , also translated Year of Sadness ) is the Hijri year in which Muhammad 's wife Khadijah and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died . The year approximately coincided with 619 CE or the tenth year after Muhammad 's first revelation .   After the death of Abu Talib , Muhammad became vulnerable due to the loss of clan protection granted by Abu Talib ( who was also the chief of Banu Hashim ) . He began to be the target of physical attacks by his Meccan opponents . He visited Ta'if to look for help and invite the inhabitants to Islam , but was rejected . On the way back to Mecca , he petitioned several prominent Meccans to ask for protection . Chief Mut ` im ibn ` Adi , from the Banu Nawfal clan , acceded to his request , escorted Muhammad into the city and announced the clan 's protection of Muhammad .

neg: Prayer of Manasseh The Prayer of Manasseh is a short work of 15 verses of the penitential prayer of king Manasseh of Judah . The majority of scholars believe that the Prayer of Manasseh was written , in Greek , in the first or second century BC . Another work by the same title , though written in Hebrew and containing distinctly different content , was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls .   Manasseh is recorded in the Bible as one of the most idolatrous kings of Judah . The Books of Chronicles , but not the Books of Kings , records that Manasseh was taken captive by the Assyrians . While a prisoner , Manasseh prayed for mercy , and upon being freed and restored to the throne turned from his idolatrous ways . A reference to the prayer , but not the prayer itself , is made in , which says that the prayer is written in the `` history of the seers . ''   The prayer is considered apocryphal by Jews , Catholics and Protestants . It was placed at the end of 2 Chronicles in the late 4th-century Vulgate . Over a millennium later , Martin Luther included the book in his 74-book translation of the Bible . It was part of the 1537 Matthew Bible , and the 1599 Geneva Bible . It also appears in the Apocrypha of the King James Bible . Pope Clement VIII included the prayer in an appendix to the Vulgate stating that it should continue to be read `` lest it perish entirely . '' In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours ; in the corpus of responsories sung with the readings from the books of Kings between Trinity Sunday and August , the seventh cites the Prayer of Manasseh , together with verses of Psalm 50 , the penitential Psalm par excellence.R . Peccavi super numerum arenae maris , et multiplicata sunt peccata mea , et non sum dignus videre altitudinem caeli prae multitudine iniquitatis meae : quoniam irritavi iram tuam , * Et malum coram te feci . V. Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco : et delictum meum contra me est semper , quia tibi soli peccavi . Et malum coram te feci.R . My sins are more in number of the sands of the sea , and my sins are multiplied , and I am not worthy to look up the height of heaven , because of the multitude of my iniquity ; for I have provoked thee to anger , * and done evil before Thee . V. For I know my iniquity , and my sin is always before me , for the Thee only have I sinned , and done evil before Thee .   The prayer is included in some editions of the Greek Septuagint . For example , the 5th century Codex Alexandrinus includes the prayer among fourteen Odes appearing just after the Psalms . It is accepted as a deuterocanonical book by some Orthodox Christians , though it does not appear in Bibles printed in Greece . The prayer is chanted during the Orthodox Christian and Byzantine Catholic service of Great Compline . It is used in the Roman Rite as part of the Responsory after the first reading in the Office of Readings on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time ( along with Psalm 51 ) . It is used also as a canticle in the Daily Office of the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer used by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America .   The prayer appears in ancient Syriac , Old Slavonic , Ethiopic , and Armenian translations . In the Ethiopian Bible , the prayer is found in 2 Chronicles .

neg: Moses in Islam Mûsâ al ibn Amram ( -LSB- ٰمُوسَى , Mūsa -RSB- ) known as Moses in the Hebrew Bible , considered a prophet , messenger , and leader in Islam , is the most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran . In Islamic tradition , instead of introducing a new religion , Musa is regarded by Muslims as teaching and practicing the religion of his predecessors and confirming the scriptures and prophets before him . The Quran states that Moses was sent by God to the Pharaoh of Egypt and the Israelites for guidance and warning . Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual , and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet . According to Islam , all Muslims must have faith in every prophet ( nabi ) and messenger ( rasul ) which includes Moses and his brother Aaron ( Harun ) . The Quran states :   Moses is considered to be a prophetic predecessor to Muhammad . Generally attributed the tale of Moses as a spiritual parallel to the life of Muhammad , considering many aspects of their lives to be shared . Islamic literature also describes a parallel between their believers and the incidents which occurred in their lifetimes . The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is considered similar to the migration ( hijra ) made by the followers of Muhammad .   Moses ( Musa ) is also very important in Islam for having been given the revelation of the Torah , which is considered to be one of the true revealed scriptures in Muslim theology , and Muslims generally hold that much of the Torah is confirmed and repeated in the Qur ` an . Moreover , according to Islamic tradition , Moses was one of the many prophets Muhammad met in the event of the Mi ` raj , when he ascended through the seven heavens . In Muslim belief , Moses is regarded as having urged Muhammad during his Mi ` raj to reduce the number of prayers until they were only five remaining , which are regarded as being the five obligatory prayers . Moses is further revered in Islamic literature , which expands upon the incidents of his life and the miracles attributed to him in the Qur ` an and hadith , such as his direct conversation with God .

neg: Rahmanism Raḥmānism ( from Old South Arabian rḥmn-n `` the Merciful '' ) ( Ar : الرحمن ) ( Musnad : ð © § ð © cents ð © # ð © ¬ ) refers to one or more monotheistic religions which ousted the polytheistic Old South Arabian religion from the 4th century AD . Since the sole indication of Raḥmānism is the mention of a monotheistic God , it is difficult to establish whether Raḥmānism is an homogenous religion or whether it can be identified with another monotheist  From the second half of the fourth century the `` Merciful '' ( Old South Arabian rḥmn-n , where the - n is the definite article ) and `` the Lord of Heaven and Earth '' are increasingly invoked . A number of inscriptions as well as archaeological synagogues show that Judaism had played an important role in South Arabia since the 4th Century , but it is not clear whether all the Raḥmānist inscriptions of this time should be construed as Jewish ; at the same time it is conceivable that Raḥmānism also involved an autochthonous monotheistic religion in its own right . Distinct references to Christians in South Arabia are found at the beginning of the 6th century when a Christian community in the city of Najrān fell victim to a pogrom initiated by the Jewish king Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar . Some consider this event politically motivated while others claim it to be the result of religious zeal . The slaughter is probably that which is alluded to in the Quranic reference to the ` People of the Ditch ( Aṣḥābu Ukhdūd ) , which describes a group of people being thrust into a ditch of fire because of their faith . Apart from being the word for ` ditch ' Ukhdūd is also the name of a place just south-west of modern Najrān . As a result of this massacre the Christian Aksumite Kingdom marched into South Arabia and enforced Christianity as the official religion , which was then supplanted by Islam in 632 . Christian communities are documented right up till the 13th century in Najrān and till the 16th century in Soqotra . Christian communities are documented ; Jewish communities persist until today .

neg: The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai is a Jewish apocalypse of the mid-eighth century , which present a Judaic messianic interpretation of the Arab conquest of the early 7th century and which appears to confirm the authenticity of similar interpretations found in the Doctrina Jacobi .   When he saw the kingdom of Ishmael that was coming , he began to say : ` Was it not enough , what the wicked kingdom of Edom did to us , but we must have the kingdom of Ishmael too ? ' At once Metatron the prince of the countenance answered and said : ` Do not fear , son of man , for the Holy One , blessed be He , only brings the kingdom of Ishmael in order to save you from this wickedness . He raises up over them a prophet according to his will and will conquer the land for them and they will come and restore it in greatness , and there will be great terror between them and the sons of Esau . ' Rabbi Simon answered and said : ` How do we know that they are our salvation ? ' He answered : ` Did not the Prophet Isaiah say thus : `` And he saw a troop with a pair of horsemen , etc. '' ? Why did he put the troop of asses before the troop of camels , when he need only have said : `` A troop of camels and a troop of asses '' ? But when he , the rider on the camel goes forth the kingdom would arise through the rider on an ass . Again : `` a troop of asses '' , since he rides on an ass , shows that they are the salvation of Israel , like the salvation of the rider on an ass . '

neg: Theodicy and the Bible Theodicy , in its most common form , is the attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil . Theodicy attempts to resolve the evidential problem of evil by reconciling the traditional divine characteristics of omnibenevolence and omnipotence , in either their absolute or relative form , with the occurrence of evil or suffering in the world . `` Writings and discourses on theodicy by Jews , Greeks , Christians , and Eastern religions have graced our planet for thousands of years , '' and `` debates about theodicy continue among believers and unbelievers alike '' .   Theodicy is an `` intensely urgent '' and `` constant concern '' of `` the entire Bible '' . Relating theodicy and the Bible is crucial to understanding Abrahamic theodicy because the Bible `` has been , both in theory and in fact , the dominant influence upon ideas about God and evil in the Western world '' . The Bible raises the issue of theodicy by its portrayals of God as inflicting evil and by its accounts of people who question God 's goodness by their angry indictments . However , the Bible `` contains no comprehensive theodicy '' .   `` The most common theodicy is the free will theodicy . '' It lays the blame for all moral evil and some natural evil on humanity 's misuse of its free will . This article shows that the free will theodicy interacts with the Bible at its core : what Jesus and Paul say about the freedom of the will and with what kind of freedom of the will God endowed humanity at the Creation .

neg: Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity . Two creation stories are found in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis . In the first Elohim , the Hebrew generic plural word for God , creates the heavens and the earth in six days , starting with light on the first day and ending with mankind on the sixth ( creating man and woman independently and at the same time ) , then rests on , blesses and sanctifies the seventh . In the second story , God , now referred to by the personal name Yahweh , creates Adam , the first man , from dust and places him in the Garden of Eden , where he is given dominion over the animals . Eve , the first woman , is created from Adam and as his companion .   Borrowing themes from Mesopotamian mythology , but adapting them to the Israelite people 's belief in one God , the first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch ( the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy ) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE ( the Jahwist source ) and was later expanded by other authors ( the Priestly source ) into a work very like the one we have today . The two sources can be identified in the creation narrative : is Priestly and is Jahwistic . The combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation : Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism . Robert Alter described the combined narrative as `` compelling in its archetypal character , its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends '' .   Misunderstanding the genre of the Genesis creation narrative , meaning the intention of the author/s and the culture within which they wrote , can result in a misreading . Reformed evangelical scholar Bruce Waltke cautions against one such misreading , the approach which reads it as history rather than theology and so leads to Creationism and the denial of evolution . As noted scholar of Jewish studies , Jon D. Levenson , puts it : `` How much history lies behind the story of Genesis ? Because the action of the primeval story is not represented as taking place on the plane of ordinary human history and has so many affinities with ancient mythology , it is very far-fetched to speak of its narratives as historical at all . ''

neg: Surah A Surah ( -LSB- ˈsʊərə -RSB- also spelled Sura ; سورة , plural سور suwar ) is the term for a chapter of the Qur ` an . There are 114 Surahs in the Qur ` an , each divided into verses . The chapters or suras are of unequal length , the shortest chapter ( Al-Kawthar ) has only three ayat ( verses ) while the longest ( Al-Baqara ) contains 286 verses . Of the 114 chapters in the Qur ` an , 87 are classified as Meccan , while 27 are Medinan . This classification is only approximate in regard to location of revelation ; any chapter revealed after migration of Muhammad to Medina ( Hijrah ) is termed Medinan and any revealed before that event is termed Meccan . The Meccan chapters generally deal with faith and scenes of the Hereafter while the Medinan chapters are more concerned with organizing the social life of the nascent Muslim community and leading Muslims to the goal of Dar al-Islam by showing strength . Except for sura At-Tawba , all chapters or suras commence with ` In the Name of God , the Merciful , the Compassionate ' . This formula is known as the Bismillah and denotes the boundaries between chapters . The chapters are arranged roughly in order of descending size ; therefore the arrangement of the Qur ` an is neither chronological nor thematic . Suras ( chapters ) are recited during the standing portions ( Qiyam ) of Muslim prayers . Sura Al-Fatiha , the first chapter of the Qur ` an , is recited in every unit of prayer and some units of prayer also involve recitation of all or part of any other sura .

neg: The Day of the Lord This is about the eschatological term ; see Lord 's Day for the Christian term for `` Sunday '' .   `` The Day of the Lord '' is a biblical term and theme used in both the Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament ; -LSB- יֹום YHWH , יְהוָה -RSB- ) and the New Testament ( -LSB- ἡμέρα Lord #Religion , κυρίου -RSB- ) , as in `` The sun shall be turned into darkness , and the moon into blood , before the great and the terrible day of the come '' ( Joel 2:31 , cited in Acts 2:20 ) .   In the Hebrew bible , the meaning of the phrases refers to temporal events such as the invasion of a foreign army , the capture of a city and the suffering that befalls the inhabitants . This appears much in the second chapter of Isaiah .   In the New Testament , the `` day of the Lord '' may also refer to the writer 's own times , or it may refer to predicted events in a later age of earth 's history including the final judgment and the World to Come .  The expression may also have an extended meaning in referring to both the first and second comings of Jesus Christ .