"Solomon Ibn Gabirol comes down to us as one of the most complicated intellectual figures in the history of post-biblical Hebrew literature. Ibn Gabirol was a reclusive, mystically inclined writer whose modern-sounding medieval poems range from sublime descriptions of the heavenly spheres to poisonous jabs at court life and its pretenders.". "Peter Cole's selection includes poems from nearly all of Ibn Gabirol's secular and liturgical genres, as well as a complete translation of the poet's cosmological masterpiece, "Kingdom's Crown." Cole's introduction places the poetry in historical context and charts its influence through the centuries. Extensive annotations."--BOOK JACKET.