Primer on Biblical Poetry
I am deeply indebted to my college professors for this section, one of whom introduced me to The Bible as Literature, a wonderful resource for reading the bible as literature that I really do not use enough in writing this blog…
Here lies the first extended poem of the Bible. But if you’re expecting Emily Dickinson, you will be sorely disappointed. Like Dickson’s poetry, biblical poetry is at times narrative, at times contemplative. Unlike Dickinson’s poetry, biblical poetry…lingers.
Biblical poetry, if not formatted as it is commonly found in contemporary Christian bibles, can be difficult to identify with the untrained eye. But once you learn to identify the devices, it becomes fairly easy, and you can even identify units of poetry still hiding in the text proper.
Of course, identifying these devices was a problem. Writes John B. Gabel et al. in The Bible as Literature:
The problem came about because Hebrew poetry had no formal device like our rhyme to mark the ends of poetic lines and because its rhythm was too fluid to settle into patterns that unmistakably announced the presence of verse.(Gabel 35)
But then came Bishop Robert Loweth’s 1753 hit Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews. Whereas the poetry we know poetry is based on form, Loweth proposed that biblical poetry was based on thought. It is poetry balancing units of rhythm or rhyme verses poetry balancing “sense units.” One of my college professors told me that the reason Hebrew poetry is not based on rhyming because it would be way too easy. There may be truth to that – Hebrew is an incredibly lyrical language. Rhymes and rhythms that might delight an English speaking audience are simple units of language.
Hebrew poetry does have a general form, called “parallelism.” One of the simplest types of parallel relations is “synonymous.” Let me give you an example, with text from above, arranged like a distich, a two-line block of biblical poetry.
Poetry we know is based on form / but biblical poetry is based on thought.Poetry we know balances units of rhyme / but biblical poetry balances sense units.
Here the two left units parallel one another. The two right units parallel one another as well. How do you feel about that? I just sort of said the same thing twice, just in different ways. But the biblical writers didn’t see poetry that way:
Turning it in the hand and viewing it from different angles, as it were, the Hebrew poet could more fully demonstrate its latent significance.(Gabel 37)
Another type of synonymous relationship is “synthetic,” which indicates a flow in logic or movement. For example:
Poetry we know is based on form / but biblical poetry is based on thought.Poetry we know balances units of rhyme / but biblical poetry balances sense units.
We might find this / poetry boring.Biblical poets would not find this / poetry boring.
There is a logical flow between the first distich and the second distich. The second distich moves the ideas in the first distich forward. But notice that both distiches are comprised of synonymous parallelism.
The third type of parallelism mentioned in The Art of Biblical Narrative is “antithetic” in these the second unit in a distich “denies or provides an exception to the preceding one” (Alter 38). Actually, it was used above:
We might find this / poetry boring.Biblical poets would not find this / poetry boring.
Other terms to consider: “Emblematic parallelism” has one literal and one metaphorical unit. “Climatic parallelism” builds up to a climax. “Chiasmus” is a type of parallelism that lines up the top left unit with the bottom right one, and the top right one with the bottom left one. For example:
Poetry we know is based on form / but biblical poetry is based on thought.Whereas biblical poetry balances sense units, / poetry we know balances units of rhyme.
That is about all you need to know for now. Here is the “Song of Moses” in its entirety. Look for parallelism throughout.
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:
‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.
‘Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
his picked officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—
your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;
you sent out your fury, it consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up,
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, “I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.”
You blew with your wind, the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
‘Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
You stretched out your right hand,
the earth swallowed them.
‘In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
The peoples heard, they trembled;
pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
Terror and dread fell upon them;
by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O Lord, passed by,
until the people whom you acquired passed by.
You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
The Lord will reign for ever and ever.’
until the people whom you acquired passed by.
You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
The Lord will reign for ever and ever.’
When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
What follows is the very brief “Song of Miriam.” Notice that Miriam is Aaron’s sister. Even though Moses and Aaron are brothers, Miriam is not listed as Moses’ sister.
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’
Check it out – it rhymed there. Thanks, translators!
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