" O God, thy justice give the king-, And thy righteousness to the king's son"
(Psa. lxxii, 1). Or the verb may be in the second member :
" With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men" (Judg. xv, 10).
The second member may contain an expansion of the
first :
" Give to Jehovah, ye sons of God, Give to Jehovah glory and praise" (Psa. xxix, 1).
Indeed the varieties are numerous, since the synony- mous parallelism is very frequent.
(2.) The second kind is the antithetic, in which the first member is illustrated by some opposition of thought contained in the second. This less customary kind of parallelism is found mostly in the Proverbs :
" The full man treadeth the honey-comb under foot, To the hungry every bitter thing is sweet"
(Prov. xxvii, 7).
Under this head comes the following, with other simi- lar examples:
" Day to day uttereth instruction, Aud night to night showeth knowledge"
(Psa. xix, 2). (3.) The third kind is denominated the synthetic: probably the term epithctic would be more appropriate, since the second member not being a mere echo of the first, subjoins something new to it, while the same struct- ure of the verse is preserved ; thus :
" He appointed the moon for seasons ;
The sun knoweth his going down" (Psa. civ, 19). " The law of Jehovah is perfect, reviving the soul ; The precepts of Jehovah are sure, instructing the simple" (Psa. xix, 7).
5. Intimately connected with the parallelistic struct- ure is the stropkic arrangement of Hebrew poetry. Usually the parallelism itself furnishes the basis of the versification. This correspondence in thought is not, however, of universal occurrence. We find a merely rhythmical parallelism in which the thought is not re- peated, but goes forward throughout the verse, which is divided midway into two halves or a distich : "The word is not upon the tongue, Jehovah thou knowest it altogether"
(Psa. exxxviii, 4). "Gird as a man thy loins, I will ask thee ; inform thou me"
(Job xxxix, 3).
Here poetry distinguishes itself from prose chiefly by the division into two short equal parts. This pecul- iarity of poetic diction is expressed by the word ~"T. to sing (strictly to play'), which properly denotes dividing the matter, and so speaking or singing in separated por- tions. Among the Arabians, who. however, have sylla- bic measure, each verse is divided into two hemisticha
POETRY
316
POETRY
ra in the middle. The simple two-n rhythm hitherto described prevails especially in the
P erbs, and a portion of thi but iii the last, and still more in the Prophets, there are ir, or y, t mure members. I sting of three members (tristicha) some-
three arc parallel:
the man who walkctb not in the paths of the iiiiri-j:
Psn. i, 1). . of the memb i d to the
third:
, their sound, be world their words; For the snn hi aacle in tliem"
!■ . Nix, 4).
; iur members contain either two simple par- allels:
"Willi ■ ie poor,
. for the afflicted of the people; month; : ii of hi- lips Bhtill he slny the wicked" [sa. xi, 4).
or tli.- lir-t and third answer to each other; also the and fourth : '• That smote the people in auger With a continual stroke ;
the nations in wrath With unremitted oppression" (Isa.
If the members are more numerous or disproportionate (Isa.xi, II I, or if the parallelism is important or irregu- lar, the diction of poetry is l".-t ami prose ensues; as is ii [sa. v. 1 6, ami frequently in the later proph- leremiah ami EzekieL The strophe, however, is frequently presented in a quite extended form with divisions, and the parallelism is oft en carried ■ nit in subordinate clauses; instances of this are very common, especially in the book ol Ecclesiastes. (See
i IW. I
Ii i- nol to be Bupposed that each poem <'.m-i-ts ex- clusively i verse; for though this feature F, yel frequently several kinds are I'.. iiinl together in one composition, so as to give great lorn, and capability to the style. We si led wing beautiful specimen, because a churns is introdu
1 I II \N.
- been nit down on thy heights ! Bow are the mighty I in Oath, publish it not in the -
be Philistines r< era of tin' ancirenmcised exult. I i dew nor rain come upon you, devoted
oes' bow,
with oil.
' of the -lain, from the IV
inied not back,
Ami the Bword of Saul en nol idlj home,
1 ra : lovely and pleasant In life!
■ nol divided ; stronger than I weep for s.iui : • iv in purple,
' lllen in the midst oftl,e iln in thy high
than the love of woman.
■ "iily lor its singular other quality »( trophe. In this poem
nee three times
with the
portion; of the poem. The first choral son- is sung by the entire body of singers, representing Israel; the sec- ond is sung by a chorus of maidens; the third, by first a chorus ol' youths in a Bofl and mournful strain, and then by all l be choir in full and Swelling chorus. But in order to the reader's fully understanding with what noble elf. ci these "songs of /ion" came on the souls of their hearers, an accurate idea musl be formed of the