Poetry of the Psalms

Poetry of the Psalms

  • Submitted By: kyle
  • Date Submitted: 11/07/2008 11:39 AM
  • Category: Religion
  • Words: 1009
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 578

Poetry of the Psalms The Bible is filled with many different types of poetry. From Genesis to Revelation, poetry can be found in various forms throughout Scripture. Biblical Authors saw poetry as an effective way to write the Word of God. The Bible contains five books that are completely dedicated to poetry: Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Psalms. The Psalms are lyric poems that contain many modern characteristics of poetry including similes, metaphors, hyperbole, repetition, and imagery. They were originally written and Hebrew and, therefore, do not lose their poetic form in translation. This is because Hebrew poetry rarely uses rhyme or rhythm, but it uses parallelism instead. Parallelism does not get lost in translation, so the modern translations of Psalms still reflect the same poetic form that the authors originally used. From Psalms of Lament to Praise Psalms, psalmists expressed nearly every emotional issue faced by mankind. The poetry of Psalms is extremely emotional with vivid imagery that captures the readers’ attention and expresses the feelings that everyone has, at one time, experienced. Many different authors wrote the poems found in the book of Psalms. These authors “were imaginative, creative, lovers of poetry as well as lovers of God, and people who regarded the artistry of their poems as something important” (Ryken, Literature of Bible 122). They were not ignorant to the fact that they were writing poetry and, in fact, they were interested in poetic form as well as content. A poet’s task is to express the feelings and emotions that the readers experience so that the reader may use it as their own (Ryken, Bible Handbook 248). The psalmists were very imaginative and creative poets. They showed this through the use of imagery and metaphor in nearly every Psalm. It is evident, when studying the verses of Psalms, that the writers truly loved poetry. They were lyric poets who wrote emotionally about their experiences and their...

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