GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HEBREW POETRY complex emotion and was frequently employed by the gnomic as well as the The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, matic Certain other less common types of parallelism are found. These are in Emblereality more complex developments of the three primal types. One is em- parallelblematic parallelism, in which a common experience or truth is illustrated ism by a comparison usually drawn from nature: As cold water to a thirsty man, So are good news from a far country. (Pr. 2525.) In Psalm 371 the first two lines are in a synonymous parallelism, the third Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, like Another type is the stair-like or chain-like parallelism in which a word or Stairthought in one line is taken up and expanded in each succeeding line. It is parallelin reality a developed form of the synthetic parallelism. Thus, Psalm ism 248b, reads: verted A third type is the introverted or enveloped parallelism in which the first Introand last lines are closely parallel to each other and the intervening lines parallelexpand the thought of the first. This type is, therefore, a combination of ism the synonymous and synthetic parallelism. A good illustration is found in Psalm 308-10. To thee, O Jehovah, I call and make supplication; Strophes and refrains Rhythm of strophe Occasional charac teristics A third type of rhythm frequently employed with great effectiveness by the Hebrew poets may be designated as the strophic, in which each succeeding stanza of a poem repeated in different form or else expanded the thought of the preceding stanzas. Clear examples of this type of rhythm are found in Amos 46-11, where each stanza of four lines repeats the same note of warning and ends with the powerful refrain: Yet ye have not returned to me, is the oracle of Jehovah. In Isaiah 98-104, with its original conclusion, now incorporated in 526-29, 25e, f, is found a powerful poem describing Jehovah's successive judgments upon lawless Israel. It consists of five strophes, each containing fourteen lines and ending in the dramatic words: For all this his anger is not turned away, And his hand is outstretched still. Similarly, Psalms 42 and 43 originally constituted one poem of three stanzas, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, Who is the help of my countenance and my guide. The strophic arrangement of the verses was exceedingly common, especially in the later poetry. Frequently it has been obscured by the additions of later scribes. It was not, however, a universal characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and the attempt of certain modern scholars to restore all Hebrew poetry to this strophic form is both misleading and disastrous, for to carry through this theory they are often forced to delete many words and sentences which are clearly original and to disregard the logical connection of the thought and the literary unity of the whole. The Hebrew poets, as a rule, refused to be bound by the bonds of an exact strophic structure. To them the clear, forceful expression of their message was far more important than its external form. Although the thought of the earlier Hebrew poets is rarely confined to the narrow limitations of a strophic structure, there is usually a rhythmic parallelism which binds together the succeeding stanzas and greatly increases the clarity and effectiveness of their poems. The ordinary rhyme employed in modern English and German poetry, which is the recurrence of the same sound at the end of succeeding lines, was not a fundamental but only an occasional characteristic of Hebrew poetry. The clearest illustrations are found in the snatches of popular song preserved in the book of Judges. The riddle propounded by Samson at his bridal feast is a rhyme which has been felicitously translated by Professor Moore: Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HEBREW POETRY Samson's reply to the Philistines, when they had found out through his wife the answer to his riddle, ends in the two Hebrew words eglathî and hidathî, and may be rendered: If with my heifer you did not plow, You had not solved my riddle, now! The song, which is attributed to Samson's foes, also contains four rhyming words in three succeeding lines that may be rendered: Our god has brought low, Under our sway, our foe, He who wrought our country's woe, Who slew many of us at a blow. The closing words of Psalm 6 and of Job 109-18 also rhyme; but outside of these few examples this external characteristic is found very rarely in Hebrew poetry. It was apparently confined to the popular songs and was regarded as undesirable by Israel's great poets. nance More common in the prophets is assonance or paronomasia. Isaiah Assomakes an effective play on the similar sounds of the two Hebrew words mishpāt and mispāh and çedākā and çe ̊ākā, which may be rendered: He looked for justice, but beheld injustice, For redress, but beheld a cry of distress. (Is. 57.) Amos also, in the vision recorded in 81. 2, plays upon the meaning of similarly sounding words (kǎyiç and kēç), the one meaning summer fruit and the other end. More common in the later poetry, but more artificial, was the acrostic. Thus, for example, in Nahum 1, in the first four chapters of Lamentations, and in many psalms, as, for example, Psalm 119, each succeeding line or group of lines begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. and paronomasia charac teristics of Hebrew poetry To the modern Western reader the charm of Hebrew poetry is found not Literary in its external form but in its innate literary characteristics. As a rule, it is highly subjective in content but objective and concrete in its form of expression. The inner feelings of the poet are vividly pictured by means of illustrations drawn from the realm of nature or from common physical experiences. The picturesque Hebrew language, in which each word suggests a familiar picture or feeling or action, lent itself readily to the poet's use. The lack of abstract terms also compelled him to express himself concretely. Expressing his emotions in the terms of physical sensations, the Hebrew poet with true psychological skill was able to arouse the same emotions in the minds of his hearers. These sensations were also elemental and therefore limited to no race or age. The result is that to-day, in reading the psalms, we not only grasp the thought of the psalmist but also feel with him the fear or the passion or the joy that stirred his soul as he wrote. Hebrew poetry is also characterized by its spontaneity and earnestness. The Semitic mind is naturally intense, and the painful experiences through which the Israelites passed emphasized this characteristic. The attention of the reader is quickly attracted and constantly held by the sheer power of the poet's earnestness. Frequent changes in speaker and point of view impart to Hebrew poetry a strong dramatic quality. At the same time it is vivid and graphic. The Hebrew poets are keenly alive to the importance of variety and contrast. They are always simple but rarely if ever descend to the trite and commonplace. The clearness of their thought is not impeded by cumbersome phrases or unfamiliar illustrations. As a rule, their style is sententious. Instead of piling clause upon clause, they prefer the simple couplet. In this respect their style resembles that of the Semitic story-tellers, who constantly depend upon the simple connective and rather than upon the more elaborate conjunctions. Above all, the Hebrew poets confine themselves largely to themes of common human interest. They dramatically portray, in language simple, vivid, and concrete, the vital experiences shared by all mankind. Above all, they are inspired by a noble yet practical moral purpose that enables them to satisfy elemental needs. It is not strange that Hebrew poetry has attracted and held the attention of all classes as no other literature known to man. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HEBREW POETRY Ir is significant that more than half of the literature that has come down from the early Hebrews is poetry. There are many reasons why their greatest writers were poets. To the Greeks the world of nature was not attractive, and there are comparatively few allusions to it in the literature of that race. The Hebrews, however, were in closest touch with nature, and the picturesque, varied land of Palestine spoke inspiringly to its early inhabitants. Above all, the Hebrews saw in nature the external manifestations of Jehovah's character. The fructifying rains, the destructive storms, the droughts, the locust plagues, in fact, all the striking phenomena of their widely diversified land, were believed by the Hebrews to come directly from Jehovah. Nearly every hilltop was crowned by a sanctuary where the early inhabitants worshipped the God of the mountains and the hills. The trees were the symbol of his life-giving power and of his everlasting care. Each gushing spring testified to his gracious provision for the needs of his creatures. All nature spoke to them of God and hence inspired them with emotions of reverence and trust and gratitude. inence element The ancestors of the Hebrews came from the stern life of the desert, which Promdeveloped a constant sense of dependence and intense loyalty to the God of the of the tribe and nation. Hence they and their descendants were by nature religious and training deeply religious. And religion (in its larger meaning) is the most powerful force that can stir the heart of the poet. The perilous, warlike life of the Hebrews in Palestine also constantly fostered and further developed their sense of constant dependence upon Jehovah and the habit of attributing every event in their history to his direct intervention. The tragic, harrowing experiences that came to them during the later centuries aroused within them the deepest emotions of which man is capable, and thus inspired and practically compelled them to express their thoughts and feelings in poetry. The liturgical demands of the later ritual also led the faithful Jews who gathered about the second temple to voice their experiences in the psalms which are found in the Psalter. Thus, throughout all of Israel's history, most of the forces which produce poetry were actively at work. Three fairly well-defined periods may be distinguished in the development The difof classic Hebrew poetry. The first is the age of popular songs. It begins periods with the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan, about 1150, and extends to in the the period of Amos, about 750 B.C. The second is the prophetic period, of which begins with Amos in 750 and ends with the work of the second Isaiah, about 450 B.C. The third is the age of devotional and wisdom ferent history Hebrew poetry |