HEBREW POETRY. — Among the protocanonical books of the Old Testament, JOB (excepting 1–2 and 42:7–16), PSALMS, PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, SONG OF SONGS, and LAMENTATIONS are entirely composed in poetic form; among the deuterocanonical books: WISDOM and SIRACH. Many parts of the Prophets are also poetic; poetic compositions are likewise inserted in the historical books. A few rare fragments (Gen 4:23–24; Num 21:27–28; 1 Sam 1:18–27) bear witness that the Hebrews were not unacquainted with secular poetry.
A fundamental characteristic of Hebrew poetry (and of Semitic poetry in general) is the repetition of an idea in two or three cola or lines, which together form a verse (though some hold that each colon by itself constitutes a verse). This phenomenon, highlighted by A. S. Mazzocchi, was shortly thereafter termed “parallelism” by R. Lowth.
Three types of parallelism are recognized:
a) Synonymous: the same idea is repeated with equivalent terms, usually gaining greater clarity or breadth (“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, / nor stands in the way of sinners, / nor sits in the seat of scoffers” [Ps 1:1]; a notable example is found in Ps 113 [114:1–8]);
b) Antithetical: the second member contrasts with the first, giving it greater emphasis; it is effective in didactic contexts (“A wise son makes a father glad, / but a foolish son is a grief to his mother. / The treasures of the wicked profit nothing; / righteousness delivers from death” [Prov 10:1–2]);
c) Synthetic: the second member develops and completes the first (“Whoever honors his father will be gladdened by his children, / and in the day of his prayer he will be heard. / Whoever honors his father will live a long life, / and whoever obeys his father will bring consolation to his mother” [Sir 3:6–7]). Naturally, these three forms are often combined and fused, lending greater variety to the composition.
St. Jerome speaks of Hebrew meter using terms drawn from classical prosody: he mentions hexameters, pentameters, trimeters, iambs, spondees, Sapphic and Alcaic meters; and he cites Philo, Flavius Josephus, Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea in support (Introductio in Job). Some, following G. Bickell, have compared Hebrew meter with Syriac meter (trochaic or iambic syllabic verse). Others have reconstructed in various ways a meter based on accents. Perhaps even St. Jerome’s opinion should be interpreted not in a strict sense, but as referring only to arsis (or accents), without regard to the varying length of thesis (one or more syllables). Thus, for example, in the Psalms the rhythms 3+3, 3+4, 4+3, and 4+4 arsis seem to predominate. In the qinah genre (elegiac), the rhythm 3+2 arsis is dominant. These rhythms are very consistent, so that where extraordinary rhythmic anomalies are encountered, one may reasonably doubt the integrity of the text.
Those who consider cola as verses also regard distichs and tristichs as strophes. Apart from this, Hebrew poetry often displays a strophic structure, based primarily on sense but frequently indicated by certain signs: refrains, as in Ps 42–43 (Vulg. 41–42) and Isa 9:7–10, 4; selah (a word of uncertain meaning, inserted between strophes); ideas or terms repeated in different ways, which D. H. Müller termed responsio (if the repetition occurs in the same position in several strophes, as in Ezek 14:13–20), concatenatio (if the end of one strophe is taken up at the beginning of the next), or inclusio (if the repetition involves the beginning and end of the same strophe). Based on strophic structure, some compositions are choral, such as Ps 117 (118).
In addition to assonance, which is very frequent, a favorite device of Hebrew poets is the alphabetic acrostic, which in some cases, as in Ps 9–10 and 119, can help determine strophic structure. In Mesopotamian poetry, the corresponding form is the acrostic verse, in which the initial syllable of each line forms a title or meaningful phrase.
The Hebrews knew only two genres of poetry: the lyrical and the didactic (to which some add the prophetic genre). The first includes various subgenres, and some have sought to find an indication of this in the various titles prefixed to the Psalms (šîr, mizmôr, maśkîl, mĕḥîl, šiggāyôn), though their meaning is uncertain. Outside the Psalms, the term qînâ is used to denote “lamentation” or elegy. The general term for didactic compositions is māšāl, “similitude” or “proverb.” At times, doctrine is presented in obscure and enigmatic form (ḥîdâ, “riddle,” or mēlîṣâ, “problem”).
The language of Hebrew poets is naturally more elevated and refined than that of prose writers. Unusual forms and rare words abound; synonyms, assonances, and above all figurative expressions and locutions are plentiful. The figures are drawn from nature: animals, plants, stones, metals, etc.; from daily life: agriculture, commerce, pastoral life, navigation, military life; and especially from the political and religious history of Israel. This last characteristic most distinctly sets Hebrew poetry apart from that of neighboring peoples. While in parallelism and the use of certain common forms and patterns one may see the influence of other literatures (especially Babylonian, Phoenician from Ras Shamra, and Egyptian), the lofty religious and moral content, the beauty and variety of expression and sentiment, and the truly exquisite craftsmanship confer upon Hebrew poetry an incontestable primacy and originality.