Poetry

Hebrew poetry, concentrated most heavily in Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations, is "the measured language of emotion" dealing primarily with humanity's relationship to God. Unlike Greek and Latin poetry, Hebrew verse does not rely on rhyme or strict syllable count but on three main principles: (1.) Parallelism — the most characteristic feature, in which successive lines repeat, contrast, or develop a thought (synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic parallelism). (2.) Rhythm — a loosely stressed pattern, most pronounced in the limping qinah (3:2) meter of lament. (3.) Acrostic — alphabetic structuring found in Psalms 119, Lamentations 1–4, and Proverbs 31:10–31. The Psalter is the primary collection of Hebrew religious poetry, covering the full range of human spiritual experience from praise to lament, thanksgiving to confession.