The son of Sirach, intent on praising eminent men, enumerates bards or poets; who were, he savs, "Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people ; wise and eloquent in their instructions : such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing" (Ecclus. xliv, 4). It is evi- dent that he considered them as of great importance to the community ; and we know that they were of great antiquity, for Moses, himself a poet, refers to those who spoke in proverbs (Numb, xxi, 27), of which he inserts a specimen. Jacob was a poet, as appears from his farewell benediction on his sons. It appears extremely probable that the honorable appellation Nebi equally denoted a prophet, a poet, and a musician, as the poets principally were. See Poetry.
Poetry, Hebrew. We propose here to discuss only the poetical elements of the Bible, or ancient Hebrew poetry. For the sake of brevity and perspicuity, we shall treat this subject under the distinct heads of the character of Hebrew poetry, its existing remains, its classification, its history, and its literature. In doing this we use, so far as we find available, the articles in the various Biblical dictionaries. See Bible.
I. The Essential Character of Ancient Hebrew Po- etry.— Poetry is in its nature the language of the im- agination stimulated by the passions. While prose expresses the calm statements of memory and observa- tion, or the deliberate conclusions of the judgment, poetry gives utterance to the impulsive sentiments of the taste, the emotions and the aspirations of the heart. History can only appear in poetry in the guise of legend, and reasoning only in the form of animated colloquy. The phraseology is in keeping with the difference in spirit. Poetry tends to a more exalted and elaborate style of language in accordance with the fervid state of the mind. Hence the invention — spontaneous in most instances — of measure, whether of simple numbers or rhyme, to meet this overwrought state of the mental faculties. Biblical poetry partakes of these character- istics. It is distinguished from the prose compositions of the same book by its peculiarities of diction, as marked as those of other languages, although not so prosodia- cal. The reader is at once made aware of entering the poetical domain by a certain elevation of style, and by the employment of more frequent and extended tropes, as well as by greater abruptness and more decided en- ergy in the phraseology. The formal rhythm consists not — as in Greek and Latin, or even in the modern tongues — in a measured quantity of syllables of a par- ticular length in utterance, but in a peculiar balance and antiphony of the clauses, constituting what is known as parallelism. Each of these peculiar traits of Hebrew poetry we take space to develop somewhat in detail.
One characteristic of Hebrew poetry, not indeed pe- culiar to it, but shared by it in common with the litera- ture of other nations, is its intensely national and local coloring. The writers were Hebrews of the Hebrews, draw ing their inspiration from the mountains and rivers of Palestine, which they have immortalized in their po- etic figures, and even while uttering the sublimest and most universal truths never forgetting their own nation- ality in its narrowest and intensest form. Their images and metaphors, says Munk (Palestine, p. 444 a), "are taken chiefly from nature and the phenomenaof Palestine and the surrounding countries, from the pastoral life, from agriculture and the national history. The stars of heaven, the sand of the sea-shore, are the image of a great mul- titude. Would they speak of a mighty host of enemies
POETRY
..i i
POETRY
invading the country, they are the Bwift torrents ot the •i the sea, or the clouds thai bring on a the war-chariots advance BwifUy like light- the whirlwinds. Happiness rises as the dawn an. 1 .-hiii'- like the daylight; the blessing of God de- scends lik.- ili<- dew or the bountiful rain: the anger ol ouring fire thai annihilates the wicked iroe which devours the Btubble. Qnhappiness - of cl iuds and darkness; al times of istrophi - the Bun sets in broad day, the hi ai - i iken, the earth trembles, the Mar- disappear,
is changed into darkness and the m i into
blood, and bo on. The cedars of I.< banon, the oaks of ire the image of the mighty man. the palm and the reed of 1 1 1< - great and the humble, t .ri< rs and thorns ••!' the wicked; the pious man is an olive ever green, "r a tree planted by tlic water-side. The animal kingdom furnished equally a Urge number of images: tin- Lion, the image of power, is also, like i in- etc, thai of tyrants and violent and rapacious men; and the pious who suffers i- a feeble sheep led to the r. Tin' Btrong and powerful man is compared
to the he-goal "r the bull of Bashan: the kii f Ba-
Bhan figure, in the discourses of Amos, as i In
rich and voluptuous women; the people who rebel
the divine will are a refractory heifer. other
ire borrowed from the country life, and from the
life domestic and social: the chastisement of God weighs
. liki a wagon laden with sheaves; the dead