Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon, redemption, repentance are the awful themes of this heaven-born poetry.” In the Hebrew scriptures there are found three distinct kinds of poetry, (1) that of the Book of Job and the Song of Solomon, which is dramatic; (2) that of the Book of
Psalms, which is lyrical; and (3) that of the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is didactic and sententious. Hebrew poetry has nothing akin to that of Western nations. It has neither metre nor rhyme. Its great peculiarity consists in the mutual correspondence of sentences or clauses, called parallelism, or “thought-rhyme.” Various kinds of this parallelism have been pointed out: (1.) Synonymous or cognate parallelism, where the same idea is
repeated in the same words (Ps. 93:3; 94:1; Prov. 6:2), or in different words (Ps. 22, 23, 28, 114, etc.); or where it is expressed in a positive form in the one clause and in a negative in the other (Ps. 40:12; Prov. 6:26); or where the same idea is expressed in three successive clauses (Ps. 40:15, 16); or in a double parallelism, the first and second clauses corresponding to the third and fourth (Isa. 9:1; 61:10, 11). (2.) Antithetic
parallelism, where the idea of the second clause is the converse of that of the first (Ps. 20:8; 27:6, 7; 34:11; 37:9, 17, 21, 22). This is the common form of gnomic or proverbial poetry. (See Prov. 10-15.) (3.) Synthetic or constructive or compound parallelism, where each clause or sentence contains some accessory idea enforcing the main idea (Ps. 19:7-10; 85:12; Job 3:3-9; Isa. 1:5-9). (4.) Introverted parallelism, in which of four clauses the
first answers to the fourth and the second to the third (Ps. 135:15-18; Prov. 23:15, 16), or where the second line reverses the order of words in the first (Ps. 86:2). Hebrew poetry sometimes assumes other forms than these. (1.) An alphabetical arrangement is sometimes adopted for the purpose of connecting clauses or sentences. Thus in the following the initial words of the respective verses begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular
succession: Prov. 31:10-31; Lam. 1, 2, 3, 4; Ps. 25, 34, 37, 145. Ps. 119 has a letter of the alphabet in regular order beginning every eighth verse. (2.) The repetition of the same verse or of some emphatic expression at intervals (Ps. 42, 107, where the refrain is in verses, 8, 15, 21, 31). (Comp. also Isa. 9:8-10:4; Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6.) (3.) Gradation, in which the thought of one verse is resumed in another (Ps. 121). Several
odes of great poetical beauty are found in the historical books of the Old Testament, such as the song of Moses (Ex. 15), the song of Deborah (Judg. 5), of Hannah (1 Sam. 2), of Hezekiah (Isa. 38:9-20), of Habakkuk (Hab. 3), and David’s “song of the bow” (2 Sam. 1:19-27).
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
POETRY, HE'BREW. The Jews were an imaginative people. With them poetry and music, closely connected, accompanied domestic and social life in all its more prominent scenes, such as the wedding, the harvest, and other feasts. Am 6:5; Ps 4:7. Victory in battle was celebrated by song; see, for instance, the song of Moses, Ex 15, and the song of Deborah. Judg 5. The death of a beloved person was deplored in songs; see, for instance, the maidens' song
over Jephthah's daughter, Jud 11:40, and David's song at the death of Saul and Jonathan, Jud 2 Sam, 1:18, and afterward at the death of Abner. 2 Sam 3:33. It is therefore quite natural that so large a part of the O.T. - more than one-third - - consists of poetry, but these Poetical Books - Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, to which may be further added, besides numerous poetic fragments in the historical books,
such as Gen 4:23; Ex 32:18; Num 21:17, the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Prophets (with the exception of Daniel), as most of these writings, though not strictly poetry, oscillate between poetry and prose - were in the Jewish canon included among the Hagiographa, or Holy Writings. In Hebrew poetry two forms, the lyrical and the didactic, predominate. To the didactic the poetic portions of the prophetic writings belong. There is no epic and no
dramatic poetry, strictly so called, in the Bible. The book of Job and the Canticles are sometimes called Hebrew dramas, and have undoubtedly a dramatic drapery, but the former is chiefly didactic, the latter lyrical. The Psalms are, without any qualification, the highest specimens of sacred poetry which mankind possesses; and in spite of the very strong marks of nationality they bear, both in style and in imagery, they have become, nearly to the
whole world, the most striking and most complete expression of that which moves deepest in the human soul. They owe this pre-eminence to their spiritual character. The Hebrew poetry is now passionate and pathetic, as in the Psalms and the Prophets; now contemplative and didactic, as in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. But in both cases the pervading spiritual character is religious. The relation between man and God, his Creator and his Judge - that
is, his Father - is, directly or indirectly, the sole theme of all Hebrew lyrics, and in the treatment of this theme, its awfulness and its consolation, man has not failed to feel the inspiration from above. The power of Hebrew poetry to strike the imagination and move the heart - its poetical essence - has always been recognized; but its poetical form was for a long time overlooked, and is hardly yet fully understood. Hebrew lyrics have a
division into verses and strophes, and employ occasionally alliterations and rhymes, but they have no regular metrical system, the verses containing an unequal number of syllables and the strophes an unequal number of verses. They were destined to be sung, and consequently adapted simply to some melody. The principal element of their poetical form is therefore their rhythm, and, again, this rhythm depends much more on the ideas than on the words.
Its principal feature is the so-called parallelism - a correspondence between two or more sentences of similar or opposite meaning by which the idea receives its full and harmonious expression. The correspondence may be one of harmony or of contrast or of progressive thought, and accordingly it is called synonymous or antithetic or synthetic parallelism. Synonymous parallelism expresses the same idea in different but equivalent words, as in the
following examples: Antithetic parallelism expresses the idea through a contrast, as in the following examples: Synthetic parallelism expresses the idea through a progress or gradation of thoughts, as in the following example: