SOURCE: "Saul and David in the Early Poetry of Yehuda Amichai," in The David Myth in Western Literature, edited by Raymond-Jean Frontain and Jan Wojcik, Purdue University Press, 1980, pp. 170-78.

In the following essay, Flinker examines Amichai's use of the biblical figures of Saul and David in his poetry.

In a series of poems first published in 1958, a modern Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, revised the traditional stories of Saul and David to make these public, national heroes figures in the private world of an introspective speaker. His myths contrast markedly to the popular folk traditions about Saul and David that abound in the Israeli cultural landscape, extending from names of streets and hotels to the many folk songs and associated dances that sound the praises of these biblical heroes. Amichai focuses on their individual human qualities, while making only passing reference to the various traditions about Saul and...