{"id":33,"date":"2022-03-12T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T15:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/?post_type=chapter&p=33"},"modified":"2022-08-16T15:12:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T15:12:36","slug":"repetition","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/chapter\/repetition\/","title":{"raw":"3. Repetition","rendered":"3. Repetition"},"content":{"raw":"Repetition is a major feature of all language and poetry. In addition to repeating words, poetry often features the repetition of stress and sound, which we call meter and rhyme.\r\n

<\/a>3.1. Stress and Meter<\/h1>\r\nMeter, the regularly recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, defines English poetry for many people. Greek and Latin poetry also had strict and complex meters. Hebrew scholars spent centuries looking for a regular Hebrew meter. However, it is not there.\r\n\r\nAs Dobbs-Allsopp argues in great detail: \u201cBiblical poetry is not metrical.\u201d Instead, as he says, each line contains \u201ctwo or three and sometimes even four stressed syllables\u201d with various unstressed syllables followed by a pause; \u201cthen another two, three or four stresses and another pause, and so on\u201d (98). This understanding represents the consensus of scholars today (Gillingham, 1994,<\/em> 67-68).\r\n\r\nTypical is the pattern 3+3, which indicates three strong stresses or accents in each line of the couplet with any number of unstressed syllables. Other possibilities are 2+2, 3+2, or 4+4. However, Hebrew does not strictly enforce these meters. Again, as Dobbs-Allsopp says, \u201cBiblical poetry is not metrical\u201d (98). Rather, it is a type of free verse.\r\n\r\nIdentifying stressed syllables in Hebrew can be tricky. Unlike English, Hebrew combines related words under one major stress. In translation, one stress in Hebrew may become two or more accented words in English. Even so, the pattern is often rather easy to see in English translations, as in Ps 92:1\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It is good<\/td>\r\nto give thanks<\/td>\r\nto the LORD<\/span>,<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
to sing praises<\/td>\r\nto your name,<\/td>\r\nO Most High.<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nExamples could be easily multiplied, and so we often feel the cadence of the Hebrew poetry in English translation.\r\n

<\/a>3.2. Rhyme and the Repetition of Sound<\/h1>\r\nPoetry has a great affinity for sound. Many people consider end-rhyme as a hallmark of English poetry. Because rhymes can be hard to find in English, they create a strong impact. Forced and unhappy rhymes are signs of bad English poetry.\r\n\r\nThere is no rhyme in Hebrew poetry, which spares translators great difficulty. Still, Hebrew poetry can have concentrated repetition of consonants (alliteration) and\/or vowels (assonance). Good translations find sound in their language to support the impact as it delights the hearer. Ps 127:1-2 repeat the following words:\u00a0 unless, LORD<\/span>, build, in vain, guard. Note also the rhyme of \u201ckeep\u201d and \u201csleep\u201d as well as the alliteration of \u201crise\u201d and \u201crest.\u201d There is some assonance with the vowels of \u201ceating,\u201d \"he,\" \u201csleep,\u201d abd \"be\" of \"beloved. The sounds of the repeated words help to support the meaning.\r\n

1<\/sup> Unless the LORD<\/span><\/span> build<\/span>s the house,\r\nthose who build<\/span> it labor in vain<\/span>.\r\nUnless the LORD<\/span><\/span> guards<\/span> the city,\r\nthe guard<\/span> keeps<\/span> watch in vain<\/span>.\r\n2<\/sup> It is in vain<\/span> that you rise<\/span> up early\r\nand go late to rest<\/span>,\r\nea<\/span>ting the bread of anxious toil;\r\nfor he<\/span> gives sleep<\/span> to his be<\/span>loved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

<\/a>3.3. The Function of Repetition: Emphasis, Design, and Time<\/h1>\r\nRepetition is one of the most basic strategies of all languages, whether poetry or not. Wherever it appears, the audience should pay careful attention. Among its various functions, three are central: emphasis, design, and time.\r\n

<\/a>a. emphasis<\/h2>\r\nRepetition by its insistence creates emphasis. It is one of the easiest strategies that a text has for showing us what is important. In Psalm 121, the word \u201ckeep\u201d appears six times in eight verses to affirm that \u201cmy help comes from the LORD<\/span>.\u201d Anyone can count them, so it is not a personal opinion. \u201cKeeping\u201d is a central idea of the poem.\r\n

<\/a>b. design<\/h2>\r\nRepetition of a word, phrase, or line often defines boundaries in a poem and creates design. In Psalm 136, the second line of each couplet repeats: \u201cfor his steadfast love endures forever.\u201d The line contains the psalm\u2019s central idea and also gives the poem its design. In Psalm 8, the first and last lines repeat\u2014a strategy called inclusio.<\/em>\u00a0In addition to emphasis, the repetition also defines the poem.\r\n

<\/a>c. time:<\/h2>\r\nFinally, repetition creates time for the audience to react. Any speaker knows that you must repeat what you want people to hear so that they have time to absorb and react to it. If you say something just once, it goes by too quickly. We need to hear things several times and in different ways so that we can understand, react and set them up in our imagination. Repetition helps us do that.\r\n

<\/a>3.4. Strategies of Repeating Sameness<\/h1>\r\n

<\/a>a. key words<\/h2>\r\nKey words repeat the central theme or idea of a text. \u201cSteadfast love\u201d appears four times in Psalm 103, and \u201cbless the LORD<\/span>\u201d appears six times. the repetitionn is significant.\r\n\r\nSometimes we must include similar words to discover what the poem is creating.\r\n

<\/a>b. inclusio<\/em><\/h2>\r\nInclusio<\/em> names the repetition of the opening and last line. The word \u201cHalleluiah\u201d begins and ends a number of psalms: \u201challel\u201d = praise; \u2018u\u2019 = \u201cyou all,\u201d \"iah\" or \u2018yah\u2019 is short of YHWH. \u201cHalleluiah\u201d or \"Alleluia\" (from the Latin) means \u201cPraise the LORD<\/span>!\u201d\r\n\r\nPsalms 8 opens and closes with the same couplet (8:1, 9).\r\n

O LORD<\/span>, our Sovereign,\r\nhow majestic is your name in all the earth!<\/p>\r\nLikewise, the last lines of Psalm 118 repeat its first couplet:\r\n

O give thanks to the LORD<\/span>, for he is good;\r\nhis steadfast love endures forever! (118:1, 29)<\/p>\r\nBy beginning and ending with the same lines, the psalm affirms its unity. Though the last lines repeat the first, the text between them creates a new context that enriches the meaning of the last line. The two do not mean precisely the same thing.\r\n

<\/a>c. anaphora<\/h2>\r\nIn literary studies, anaphora describes the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of a line or several successive lines. Ps 115:1 provides an easy example:\r\n

\u201cNot to us, O LORD<\/span>, not to us,\r\nbut to your name give glory.\u201d<\/p>\r\nSee also Ps 22:1 and Isa 40:1.\r\n\r\nAnother example has the beginning of lines repeating as in Ps 29:1-2.\r\n

Ascribe to the LORD<\/span>, O heavenly beings,\r\nascribe to the LORD<\/span> glory and strength.\r\nAscribe to the LORD<\/span> the glory of his name;\r\nworship the LORD<\/span> in holy splendor.<\/p>\r\nMuch of Psalm 93 is similar. Though very simple, the repetition creates an insistence that demands attention.\r\n

<\/a>d. refrain<\/h2>\r\nRefrain, the regular repetition of one or more lines, brings a sense of regularity and assurance. Psalm 136 provides one of the clearest examples.\r\n

<\/a>e. alphabetic psalms<\/h2>\r\nPoetry often imposes rules that challenge the poet to become creative. Some biblical poems use the Hebrew alphabet for this challenge. The first couplet begins with aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The second couplet begins with beth, the second letter, and so forth through the twenty-two letters. Psalm 119, the longest in the Psalter, divides into twenty-two stanzas of eight couplets. Each couplet of the stanza begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.\r\n\r\nThe succession of letters gives the poem a sense of order, inevitability, and completeness. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to reproduce this in English.\r\n\r\nSome alphabetic poems belong to the wisdom tradition: Psalms 37, 112, 119; and Prov 31:10-31. However, the pattern is also used for various hymns (Pss 9, 25, 34) and laments (Psalms 25; Lamentations 1\u20134).\r\n\r\nThe Hebrew alphabet comes from the Canaanite alphabet, which is also the source for the Greek alphabet and the basis for the Roman alphabet, which we use. Although the Hebrew alphabet seems totally different, you can see the link in the first letter. The Hebrew letter, aleph, is the word for ox, and if you turn the Greek first letter, alpha, 'A' upside down and draw ears at the crossbar and then eyes and a mouth, you can see the head of an ox.\r\n\r\nIts impact of the alphabetic psalm is lost in translation.\r\n

<\/a>3.5. Exercises for Chapter 3<\/h1>\r\n

Vocabulary<\/h4>\r\n