Study of Hebrew Poetry Literature - i

  

Hebrew Poetry Genres (Characteristics) of Hebrew Poetry 

The term "poetry" presents great difficulty in assigning it to some specific books. In general, several books in the OT have a poetic character. But using certain exclusive features like high style or symbolic language as indicators forces us to limit it to certain books. Poetry is defined as evocative/suggestive compositions that communicate more by connotation (suggestion/implication) than denotation (meaning/essence). Songs, prayers, proverbs, speeches in the Hebrew Bible are written in a special style. In other words, poetry is a work of imagination, feeling and reflection. The main characteristics of Hebrew poetry are: 1. Brevity The most understandable characteristic of Hebrew poetry is its brevity. The basic unit of Hebrew poetry is the line, not the sentence as in prose. A line consists of two or more short sentences, which biblical scholars often call a cola (unit). The most common line has two colas (bikolom), each containing about three words.

Lines with one colon (molocolon) or three colas (tricolon) are not uncommon, as are colas with two or four words. However, it is very rare to find a line of poetry that consists of more than four words. Hebrew poems are relatively short, usually thirty verses or less. The lines are short and the relationship or transitions between them are often not expressed. This means that each word or phrase in the poem has more meaning because there are fewer words that carry the information. In biblical poetry, brevity in the lines is mainly achieved by omitting the definite article (the, h;), the accusative case (ta) and the relative pronoun (rv,a,). E.g. “Then she said to him, "Give me something to drink, because I'm thirsty. She opened the skin of milk and gave him to drink and covered him” (Judges 4:19), in prose.

"He asked for water, and she gave him milk, she brought him curds in a lord's bowl" (Judges 5:25), in poetry. 2. Parallelism Parallelism is a word denoting a formal characteristic of Hebrew poetry. It is essentially a rhythm of meaning or a repetition of meaning in parallel form. In 1975, Anglican bishop Robert Lowth showed parallelism as a primary feature of Hebrew poetry. Based on the relationship between parallel lines, Lowth divides the parallel relationship into three types: synonym parallel, opposite parallel, and artificial parallel.

 

As the parallelism was studied more closely, its many variations became apparent. There seems to be a scholarly consensus that Lowth's scheme was too simplistic. Additional types were added based on syntactic (word order) and sematic (word meaning). Many other types are not of the same order as Lowth's; that is, in one sense they may be considered subtypes, and in another sense an intersecting lineage of the original three types. The best known of these additional types are discussed below. 2 i. Synonymous parallelism: the idea of ​​the first line is repeated in the second line with different but synonymous words. The order of parallel members does not have to be the same in both rows. E.g. Israel/came/ to Egypt; Jacob/ dwelt/ in the land of Ham (Ps 105:23)

ii. Antithetical parallelism: the idea of ​​the first line is contrasted with the second line. It balances parallel lines through opposition or contrast though as in Ps. 90:6. Morning/ blooms/ and renews Evening/ fades/ and withers. iii. Synthetic parallelism: the idea of ​​synthetic parallelism is that the idea of ​​the second line complements or completes the idea of ​​the first time, as seen in Ps. 1:3. E.g. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which gives its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. iv. Inverted or chiastic parallelism: is a form of synonymous parallelism in the strict sense; the main difference is that it involves the inversion of the terms in the second row. The order of terms in the first line is reversed in the second line. Ephraim/ will not be jealous of/ Judah And Judah/ will not trouble/ Ephraim (Is 11:13b). v. Stair parallelism: A step-like pattern in which some elements from the first line are repeated exactly in the second and others are added to complete the idea. judge. 5:12 a.m.; poem. 29:1-2 For example: To the Lord / to the Lord in heaven / Glory / and power to the Lord / glory / in His name vi. Symbolic Parallel: Compare the idea in the first line with the idea in the second line, using a simile or metaphor.

As a father is merciful to his children, so the Lord is merciful to those who fear him (Psalm 103:13). Now I would ask you to find other examples from the Bible. 3. Meter Meter is one of the main characteristics of Hebrew poetry, although it is difficult to impose a strict metrical system on Hebrew poetry. Meter refers to any particular form of poetic rhythm. It requires repeating an element or group of elements with a mathematical regularity. The measured element can be a syllable, a stress or accent, or a word. there are various metrical theories of biblical poetry involving one or more of these elements (some of the most common metrical patterns are 3+2, 3+3, 3+3+3, 4+4, 2+2, 2+2+ 2, 4+ 2 etc.). The traditional school holds that meter in Hebrew is accented rather than syllabic. This counts the number of accents or highlights per line. This approach is sometimes combined with counting the number of words or syllables.

For example, Syllabic school: SS based its approach on the syllables of the text and does not depend on Masoretic vocalization. This theory counts the number of syllables (regardless of whether they are open or closed, stressed or unstressed). Word meter: the theory of word meter assumes that there are a fixed number of word units in each line or verse. Thought meter: In the theory of thought meter 3, a thought unit (usually one or two words with one main emphasis) forms the basic unit of measurement. Semantic school: suggests that parallelism of semantic units rather than phenomena is the determining factor in Hebrew meter. 

Meter is thought to be a characteristic that identifies a genre, but has proved to be an indefinable category in the analysis of biblical poetry. The attitude of the recent scholars towards meter has largely changed. 4. Rhythm Rhythm refers to a recurrence or patterning of sounds without the requirements of measured regularity. The rhythm of biblical poetry results from terse parallel lines. The number of thought, of words and of stresses in each line of a parallelism tends to be about the same. In this system, most lines have between two to four stresses and lines within the parallelism tend to have the same numbers of stresses. Thus, parallel lines are rhythmically balanced. The number of syllables in a poem may vary, but the length of the connected lines will be the same. 5. Repetition It is expected that poetry be more formally organized around certain structures and patterns. Biblical poetry involves many types of repetitions or equivalence grammatical structures, semantic terms words and sounds. Some of the evidence of repetitions in biblical poetry are: key words- the same word or root may occur numerous times throughout a passage (eg. Keep/watch) rmv occur 6 times in Ps. 121). Anaphora- (repetition of a phrase at the beginning of the phrases) several consecutive lines may begin with the same word or phrase (Ps. 150- every lines begins with Praise him).

Anadiplosis- in this type of repetitions, the last word or phrase of the line is repeated at the beginning of the next line (Ps. 96:13). Side by side repetitions- this is the immediate repetition of the same word (Isa. 40:1. Comfort, comfort- Isa. 52:1, awake, awake). Refrain- a phrase that is repeated after every verse or major subdivisions of the poem (Ps. 136). Inclusion- in this figure, the passage or poem begins and ends with the same word or phrase (Ps. 8). 6. Patterning Patterning depends on repetitions. Some of the evidence of patterning in Hebrew poetry are: (kyiasm) chiasm- it is known as reverse patterning of words (eg. Isa.5:20). Sound patterns - different sound patterns can be found in the poem - dots for two sounds, strings that share the same or similar phonemes. But the most common sound patterning is rhymes. The Alphabet Acrostic: An acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of successive lines form a recognizable pattern. A device employed in poetry whereby the first verse, half verse or stanza begins with first letters of the alphabet and the succeeding lines with successive letters of the alphabet. Among the poetic books, several acrostic poem occurs in Pss. 9-10, 34, 37, 11, 119, 145, Prov. 31: 10-31, Nahum 1: 2-10. Psalm 119 is an acrostics master piece each latter of the alphabet heading up to eight successive lines for each of the twenty two letter of the alphabet.

Strophic arrangement: strophe is two or more series of lines possessing metrical regularity which form the division of a lyric poem. The use of stanzas and strophes is somewhat neglected in the analysis Hebrew poetry. Most studies of biblical poetry have concentrated on the level of the parallel line. Few define the rhetorical pattern that encompasses the entire poem. 4 7. Imagery Imagery is not the exclusion character of poetry, but the occurrence and force of imagery is heightened in speech that we normally recognise as poetic. It is, after all, another way to write compactly as well as to increase the emotional impact of a passage. C. Day Lewis speaks of imagery as “a picture made out of words.” Such pictures are after the result of comparison, the two most common types being metaphor and simile. An example is a comparison of two things marked using "like" or "as". The Song of Solomon 4:1b is a true example of this: "Your hair is like a herd of goats descending from Mount Gilead." Since Aristotle, metaphors have been recognized by scholars as important figures and even as the essence of Aristotle. poem.

Metaphor presents a stronger connection between the two objects of comparison and is truly figurative language, as in Song of Songs 4:1a “your eyes behind your veil are doves.” Metaphor catches our attention by the disparity between the two objects and the daring suggestion of similarity, and by so doing the reader explores multiple levels of meaning and experiences the emotional overtones of metaphor. 8. Figure of Speech The notion of figure of speech is a Greek and there is no clear consensus among modern scholars as to the speech used in biblical poetry. Among the figure of speech usually cited are: symbol- a symbol is a concrete image that points to or embodies other meaning. 

 

 Hyperbole- conscious or extravagant exaggeration for the sake of effect. For eg. Ps. 18:29- “with your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.” Personification- which attributes personality to inanimate objects. The psalmist often uses the following poetic device to show that not only humans but all creation belongs to God and should be praised: "Let the sea and everything in it, and the earth and all in it resonate" (Psalm 98:7). Wisdom is a woman in Proverbs. 1:20-33, 8. Apostrophe - to speak directly to something or someone that is not there, as if that person could come and listen.

Israeli poets use apostrophes to express strong emotions. Eg. Ps. 2:10 “therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.” Merismus- the expressions of a totality through mentioned of its representative components mounted up to heavens and went down to the depths (Ps. 107:26). Rhetorical questions[1]Rhetorical questions may occur in series or singly.

 The effect can be varied as the message in which the question is contained- anguish (Lam. 5:21), sarcasm (Job 8:12), instruction (Prov. 31:10), amazement (Ps. 8:5). Representatives of these discourses should not be seen as mere group names. They represent the means of expressing the words of the Hebrew poets in a lively, fresh and transparent way. They give a rich content to the poem and try to leave a good impression on the reader.