21/02/2013

Lesson Four

http://bibleasliterature.wordpress.com/lesson-4/

How much of the Bible is written in Poetry?

Roughly one-third of the Bible is written in poetic form.

What are the main poetic ingredients? Include a brief description of each one?

Imagery.
The use of words to paint pictures, evoking a concrete sensory experience of people, places, and things: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:1).

• Simile.
  A comparison between two things that uses “like” or “as” — A is like B: “They are like trees planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3).

• Metaphor.
  A comparison between two things that forgoes “like” or “as” to say that A is B: “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1).

• Apostrophe.
  Addressing someone absent as though the person (or people) were present: “Depart from me, all you workers of evil” (Psalm 6:8).

• Personification.
  Endowing a non-human subject with human attributes or actions: “Let the hills sing together for joy” (Psalm 98:8).

• Hyperbole.
  Conscious exaggeration for emotional effect: “By my God I can leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29).

Read Psalm 23, describe the scene?

Green pastures, still waters, dark valley, a shepherd’s rod and staff. The images are concrete, specific, drawn from nature and everyday life. Psalm 23 is built around the controlling metaphor of a shepherd herding his sheep to safety.

What is the difference between Synonymous Parallelism & Antithetic Parallelism

Synonymous Parallelism

• Lines A and B say the same thing in similar grammatical form:

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (Psalm 1:5)

Antithetic Parallelism

• Lines A and B say the same thing in contrasting ways:

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:6)