People sometimes tell me that they do not like poetry, but they usually have favorite songs and admire certain songwriters. Songs are poems that people sing, and modern poetry is perhaps most alive in places like Nashville. Psalms are also sung poems, and some with their strong emotions could well have been written in some ancient Nashville.
In addition to the psalmist, the prophets and the authors of wisdom wrote in poetry. Though Israel told its stories mostly in prose, its poetry shapes large sections of the Bible. These ancient poets belonged to a larger and even more ancient tradition than Israel’s as the harpist on the cover attests, and yet its poetry shares much with that of other peoples down to the present. Poetry can be challenging, but the challenge often lies more in what we are going to do about the poetry, and not in what it has to say or how it says it.
This book focuses on biblical poetry in English. While the original language offers many riches, we can see much of its beauty and power in an English translation. This book uses the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. As a revision of the King James Bible, it offers a rather literal presentation of the Hebrew text, and so it allows the reader to see the workings of the original. Other translations would provide similar insights, and each translation brings its own gifts.
I have long given an earlier version of this text to students in courses on psalms, wisdom, and prophets. Every topic here could be a book, but this book tries to lay out a clear foundation on which readers can build. Each chapter ends with exercises so that readers can explore its ideas.
The first chapter looks at some basic questions about poetry: tradition and creativity, the author’s intention and the text, and the connections of association and likeness. The last section lays out a way to do a close reading of the text. Often people find a text difficult because they have not found all that a text wants to tell them. They have scooped out an idea or two and have not looked closely at the text.
Part One deals with the craft of biblical poetry—mainly the ways that repetition creates word pairs that form the basis for parallel lines and their sequence.
Part Two deals with language. Poetry draws on the literal and non-literal ways of ordinary language, but it focuses and concentrates these elements to create its energy and levels of connection. The section gives particular attention to metonymy and metaphor, which we use in ordinary conversation though people do not always realize it.
Part Three considers the genres of psalms, wisdom, and prophets. The word, genre, refers to the basic types of literature and their typical construction. By recognizing these types, we begin to understand what the text wants to communicate. This understanding of what is common also helps us see what is different in a text, and the important point often lies in the difference.
A final chapter raises questions about meaning: What did the text mean? What did it come to mean? What does it mean?
A glossary follows and defines the key words used in the book.
The poetry of ancient Israel reflects the history of this people, and scholars have devoted much time and energy to these questions. Though they can be important, this book does not deal with questions of their composition, context, or use within ancient Israel. Susan Gillingham covers many of these issues in “The Psalms and Poems of the Hebrew Bible” in The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion, where she summarizes her book by the same name. Jennie Grillo also does the same for wisdom literature in the same volume. Other resources abound for the prophets. The distance in time and culture can present some challenges, but for the most part, biblical poetry contains what we need to make sense of it. Sometimes we just do not expect people to talk to God like that.
As noted above, the Scripture texts come from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Tammy Schuetter designed the cover using a photo of the marble seated harp player of the Cycladic period (2800–2700 B.C.) at the Metropolitan Art Museum (Public Domain).
Amanda Hurford and Edward Mandity at PALNI Publications were very attentive and have made this publication simple and easy. I thank them.
I am also grateful to Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology for offering me a sabbatical to rethink and rewrite this book.
Finally, I want to thank my students who have helped me over the years to see what they needed in order to learn how this poetry works. by their questions and insights, they have helped me see more of this poetry’s beauty and mystery.
Harry Hagan, OSB, SSD
Feast of the Transfiguration
August 6, 2022
