Reading: The Language of Hebrew Poetry (Video Slides)

#3 The Language of Hebrew Poetry

 

Introductory Notes:
 Hebrew Poetry

• Reasons for Poetry:

Express strong emotions

Condense living into dramatic moments

Provide for group expression (e.g., singing)

• Primary qualities of Hebrew Poetry:

1. Parallelism:

Especially Synonymous, Antithetic, & Stairlike

2. Meter:

Rhythm in repetitive stress patterns

3. Widely-used poetic literary techniques:

Acrostics, Alliteration, Assonance, Enveloping, Chiasm

 

Hebrew Poetry Parallelism #1

• Synonymous Parallelism: two lines forming a single idea, each saying the same thing using different words:

“Why did I not perish at birth,

and die as I came from the womb?” (Job 3:11)

“Why is light given to those in misery,

and life to the bitter of soul…” (Job 3:20)

“What I feared has come upon me;

what I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25)

 

Hebrew Poetry Parallelism #2

• Antithetic Parallelism: two lines forming a single idea, each saying the opposite thing so that the idea is viewed from two perspectives:

“Do not declare me guilty,

but tell me what charges you have against me.” (Job 10:2)

“Can anyone bring charges against me?

If so, I will be silent and die.” (Job 13:19)

“Then summon me and I will answer,

or let me speak, and you reply to me.” (Job 13:22)

 

Hebrew Poetry Parallelism #3

• Stairlike Parallelism: three or more lines forming a single idea, each building on or expanding the ideas found in the previous line:

“You fasten my feet in shackles;

you keep close watch on all my paths

by putting marks on the soles of my feet.” (Job 13:27)

“A person’s days are determined;

you have decreed the number of his months

and have set limits he cannot exceed.” (Job 14:5)

“At least there is hope for a tree:

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its new shoots will not fail.” (Job 14:7)

 

Introductory Notes:
 Hebrew Poetry

• Reasons for Poetry:

Express strong emotions

Condense living into dramatic moments

Provide for group expression (e.g., singing)

• Primary qualities of Hebrew Poetry:

1. Parallelism:

Especially Synonymous, Antithetic, & Stairlike

2. Meter:

Rhythm in repetitive stress patterns

3. Widely-used poetic literary techniques:

Acrostics, Alliteration, Assonance, Enveloping, Chiasm

 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• The Song of Hiawatha: an example of using Meter or rhythm to convey meaning

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,

By the shining Big-SeaWater,

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

Dark behind it rose the forest,

Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,

Rose the firs with cones upon them;

Bright before it beat the water,

Beat the clear and sunny water,

Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

• Hebrew poetry makes great use of this technique; unfortunately, it is not easily translated from Hebrew into other languages

 

Introductory Notes:
 Hebrew Poetry

• Reasons for Poetry:

Express strong emotions

Condense living into dramatic moments

Provide for group expression (e.g., singing)

Primary qualities of Hebrew Poetry:

1. Parallelism:

Especially Synonymous, Antithetic, & Stairlike

2. Meter:

Rhythm in repetitive stress patterns

3. Widely-used poetic literary techniques:

Acrostics, Alliteration, Assonance, Enveloping, Chiasm

 

Other Tools of Hebrew Poetry

• Acrostics:

Beginning successive lines or stanzas with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet

• Alliteration:

Repetition of beginning letters or sounds with a number of consecutive or nearby words in a line or group of lines

• Assonance:

Repetition of similar vowel sounds within a number of consecutive or nearby words in a line or group of lines

• Enveloping:

Using a single idea, or a couplet of lines at the beginning and again at the end of a stanza or poem, like tucking the whole message into the envelop of this idea

• Chiasm:

Repeating successive terms or ideas in reverse order after the midpoint of a poem or story

 

Parallelism Is Most Prominent

• Among all of the tools or techniques of Hebrew poetry, only parallelism is consistently evident in our translations.

• Other tools and techniques get lost in translation

• Parallelism is virtually always present:

Synonymous is dominant (perhaps 90% of the lines in Job, and perhaps 80% of the lines in Psalms)

Antithetic is the key method for creating proverbs (perhaps 50% of the lines in Proverbs)

Stairlike is often used to slow down our thinking, in order to get us to pause and reflect more fully on an idea