Interpreting Hebrew Poetry

Editor’s Foreword

Abbreviations

1. Understanding Hebrew Poetry
Definition
Problems
Theories Of Poetry
Poetry-Prose Continuum
Three Approaches
Relationship Of Methods

2. Parallelism
Robert Lowth
Basic Nomenclature
Synonymous, Antithetic, Synthetic Parallelism
New Understandings
Grammatic, Morphologic, Semantic Parallelism
Summary

3. Meter And Rhythm
Definitions
Meter
Rhythm

4. Poetic Style
Simile
Stanza And Strophe

5. Poetic Analysis
Deuteronomy
Isaiah 5:1-17
Psalm 1
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Author Index
Scripture Index

Additional Info
Here is a convenient introduction to the unique aspects of interpreting the one-third of the Hebrew Bible that is in poetic form. Numerous are the occasions when a failure to distinguish poetry from prose in the Old Testament has resulted in flawed interpretation. Robert Lowth’s Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews (1753, 1787), marked a turning point of major proportions by focusing on the importance of parallelism of lines. But new studies of the past decade now require significant adjustments to Lowth’s analyses. Interpreting Hebrew Poetry offers an authoritative introduction to this discussion of parallelism, meter and rhythm, and poetic style. It also provides by way of example a poetic analysis of Deuteronomy 32, Isaiah 5:1-7, and Psalm 1.