{"id":97,"date":"2022-03-21T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T17:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/?post_type=chapter&p=97"},"modified":"2022-08-16T15:32:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T15:32:42","slug":"10lyric","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/elementsofbiblicalpoetry\/chapter\/10lyric\/","title":{"raw":"10. The Lyric and Biblical Poetry","rendered":"10. The Lyric and Biblical Poetry"},"content":{"raw":"In his dense and erudite book, On Biblical Poetry<\/em>, F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp insists on the lyric as the primary genre for the Bible\u2019s poetry. As defined above, a lyric is not a story, but a thought or reaction presented directly by a single speaker whom the audience, as it were, overhears.\r\n\r\nIn chapter three, Dobbs-Allsopp defines the lyric as \u201ca sung word,\u201d shaped by the freedom and spontaneity of music. The singer has crafted the words into an \u201cobviously linguistic creation.\u201d Like drama, it is the direct\u00a0 \u201cutterance of a voice,\u201d but without the story. Not bound by the linear sequence of narrative, it moves easily from topic to topic. It juxtaposes very different ideas, images, and emotions as it seeks an expression of complexity and depth. \u201cSmall in scale,\u201d a lyric explores Hebrew parataxis, that is, the tendency of the Hebrew language to connect ideas with the conjunction \u201cand\u201d while leaving the hearer free to imagine and supply the relations. In this way, lyric creates \u201cfeeling through language\u201d and gives them value. Finally, the \u201cextravagance\u201d of overstatement fuels a lyric\u2019s reach for transcendence and excitement (178-232).\r\n\r\nPsalm 121 offers a basic example. It belongs to the \u201cSongs of Ascent,\u201d which seem to be a collection of psalms sung on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This psalm begins with the psalmist asking a question which the psalmist then answers. The psalm is then an internal dialogue that we overhear.\r\n

1<\/sup> I lift up my eyes to the hills\u2014\r\nfrom where will my help come?\r\n2<\/sup> My help comes from the LORD<\/span>,\r\nwho made heaven and earth.\r\n3<\/sup> He will not let your foot be moved;\r\nhe who keeps<\/strong><\/span> you will not slumber.\r\n4<\/sup> He who keeps<\/strong><\/span> Israel\r\nwill neither slumber nor sleep.\r\n5<\/sup> The LORD<\/span> is your keeper<\/strong><\/span>;\r\nthe LORD<\/span> is your shade at your right hand.\r\n6<\/sup> The sun shall not strike you by day,\r\nnor the moon by night.\r\n7<\/sup> The LORD<\/span> will keep<\/strong> <\/span>you from all evil;\r\nhe will keep<\/strong><\/span> your life.\r\n8<\/sup> The LORD<\/span> will keep<\/strong><\/span>\r\nyour going out and your coming in\r\nfrom this time on and forevermore.<\/p>\r\nThe word \u201ckeep,\u201d which repeats six times, establishes the basic theme affirming the \u201cLORD<\/span>\u201d (five times) as the psalmist\u2019s keeper. In the context of the journey, God is the guide who does not let the psalmist\u2019s foot slip. \"The LORD<\/span>\" also watches through the night and \u201cneither slumbers nor sleeps.\u201d Likewise, God guards the pilgrim by day and night (merismus: half and half). The sun, of course, can cause heatstroke, and, as in English, being moonstruck means going mad. The polar pair of \u201cgoing out\u201d and \u201ccoming in\u201d embraces the whole journey. The merismus of the last line emphasizes that this does not come to an end.\r\n\r\nPsalm 133 also gives us something to overhear.\r\n

1<\/sup> How very good and pleasant it is\r\nwhen kindred live together in unity!<\/p>\r\n

2<\/sup> It is like the precious oil on the head,\r\nrunning down upon the beard,\r\non the beard of Aaron,\r\nrunning down over the collar of his robes.<\/p>\r\n

3<\/sup> It is like the dew of Hermon,\r\nwhich falls on the mountains of Zion.\r\nFor there the LORD<\/span> ordained his blessing,\r\nlife forevermore.<\/p>\r\nThe psalm begins with an affirmation about the harmony of living together. The Hebrew and other translations focus\u00a0 on \u201cbrothers living together.\u201d Genesis, with its stories of Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, highlights the problem of brothers living in unity, yet the problem is not limited to brothers alone. The NRSV takes the image as metonymy and translates the Hebrew as \u201ckindred.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe word \u201cgood\u201d appears often in the Bible. Genesis 1 repeats it seven times to affirm the goodness of creation. \u201cPleasant\u201d is an understatement that captures the calm of daily unity.\r\n\r\nThe psalmist then gives us two metaphors for this living together. In the first, it is like oil running down, and the poetry repeats this and gives us a sense of its sensuality. The oil runs down upon Aaron and conjures up the image of his consecration as a priest. The metaphor suggests that living together somehow consecrates us and separates us out for God.\r\n\r\nThe second metaphor uses a very different image: living in unity is like dew falling on Mount Hermon, the great mountain of Lebanon\u2014actually a ridge of mountains. Because of its elevation and cooler temperatures, its dewfall would have been heavy and a source of fertility in an arid climate. However, the dew of Hermon falls on the \u201cmountains\u201d of Zion, the temple mount in Jerusalem\u2014the place of God\u2019s holiness where \u201cthe LORD<\/span> ordained his blessing, life forevermore.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe psalm asserts that \u201cliving in unity\u201d is similar to \u201coil running down\u2026on the beard of Aaron\u201d and to the dew of Hermon on Mount Zion, the place of the LORD<\/span>\u2019s blessing. In just over sixty words, the psalm explores a fundamental issue of life, and despite the distance between us and its world, the poem can still engage us.\r\n\r\nWhile other lyrics exist, much of biblical poetry does not fit the definition of lyric given above. Even Psalm 121, with its interior monologue, is moving toward drama. Many psalms address God directly, as if they were speeches in a play. Hymns typically call others to join the praise. Laments make petitions directly to God. In wisdom instructions, a teacher or parent speaks to a student or child. The prophets bring a message from God to the people. Many psalms and perhaps all the poetry of the prophets presume an implied narrative. Even so, Dobbs-Allsopp\u2019s insistence on lyric highlights an important dimension of this poetry.\r\n

<\/a>10.1. Exercise for Chapter 10<\/h1>\r\n

Vocabulary<\/h4>\r\n