Background
Shaul Tchernichovsky was born on 20 August 1875 in the village of Mykhailivka, Mykhailivka Raion, Taurida Governorate (now in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine).
Shaul Tchernichovsky was born on 20 August 1875 in the village of Mykhailivka, Mykhailivka Raion, Taurida Governorate (now in Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine).
From 1890to 1892, he attended the privately run High School of Commerce in Odessa, where his interests were channeled toward Hebrew language and literature, as Odessa was then a major center of the Hebrew renaissance that was sweeping through
part of the Jewish nation during the late 19th century. Here he learned English, French, German, and later Greek, Latin, and Italian, devouring their literatures voraciously.
From 1899 to 1906 he studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, finishing his medical studies in Lausanne. From then on, he mingled his activities as a doctor with his activities as a poet. After completing his studies he returned to Ukraine to practice in Kharkov and in Kiev. In the First World War he served as an army doctor in Minsk and in Saint Petersburg.
From 1925 to 1932 he was one of the editors of the newspaper Hatekufa. He also edited the section on medicine in the Hebrew encyclopedia Eshkol.
From 1929 to 1930 he spent time in America. In 1931 he immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine and settled there permanently. Besides being a poet, Tchernichovsky was known as an excellent translator. His translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey particularly earned recognition. He also translated Sophocles, Horace, Shakespeare, Molière, Pushkin, Goethe, Heine, Byron, Shelley, the Kalevala, the Gilgamesh Cycle, the Icelandic Edda, etc.
Tchernichovsky served as doctor of the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. In his later years he served as doctor for the Tel Aviv schools. He was active in writers' organizations and a member of the Committee of the Hebrew Language. He was also the editor of the Hebrew terminology manual for medicine and the natural sciences.
He was a friend of the distinguished Klausner family of Jerusalem, including the child who would grow up to become the novelist Amos Oz, to whom he was "Uncle Shaul."
Shaul Tchernichovsky died in Jerusalem on 14 October 1943.
He had an abiding interest in Greek literature and thought: Tschernichowsky believed that beauty must take precedence over strength and even over knowledge. His inclination toward secularism became almost a pagan worship of beauty, which sounded a new, and for many a shocking, note in Hebrew literature. His love for Greek culture can be seen in his translations of several Greek classics, such as the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Plato’s Sympo¬sium. In addition, he translated works from other languages, among them Latin, French, German, English, Serbian, Georgian, Persian, and Icelandic; they include Molierc’s.
In the poetry of Tchernichovsky there is a blend of the influences of Jewish cultural heritage and world cultural heritage. He writes on Hebrew subjects as in "In Endor", a poem about King Saul. Saul comes to the witch of Endor, who dramatically describes Saul's condition at the end of his life. Tchernichovsky particularly identified with the character of Saul, perhaps due to his own name. He further describes in the poem the tragic fall of Saul and his sons on Mount Gilboa. In contrast, in the poem "Before a Statue of Apollo", the poet proves his affinity for Greek culture, identifying with the beauty it represents, even bowing down to it.
Toward the end of his life he composed some poems that are centered on images from his childhood point of view. These poems, which can properly be termed idylls, are regarded by many as his most splendid poetic works. Some even believe that Tchernichovsky's idylls serve as an example and a model for all of the idylls that have been written in the Hebrew language.
Many of his poems have been set to music by the best Hebrew popular composers, such as Yoel Angel and Nahum Nardi. Singer-songwriters have also set his lyrics to music, as Shlomo Artzi did for They Say There Is a Land (omrim yeshna eretz, אומרים ישנה ארץ), which is also well known in the settings of Angel and of Miki Gavrielov. Oh My Land My Birthplace (hoy artzi moladeti, Hebrew: הו ארצי מולדתי) is better known in the setting by Naomi Shemer, as arranged by Gil Aldema. Shalosh atonot (Three Jenny-asses, Hebrew: שלוש אתונות) also became a popular song.