POETRY, HEBREW ; the poetry which is found in the Bible, and which, rich and multifari.
ous as it is, appears to be only a remnant of a still wider and fuller sphere of Shemitic literature. The N. 'I'. is intended to be comprised in our definition, for, besides scattered portions, which, under a prosaic form, convey a poetic thought, the entire book of the Apocalypse abounds in pokry.
The term Biblical poetry' may find little ac ceptance in the ears of those who have identified poetry with fiction, fable, and profane delights, under the impression that as such things are of the earth earthy, so religion is too high in its character, and too truthful in its spirit, to admit into its pro vince mere creations of the human fancy. But whatever opinion may be entertained of the charac ter and tendency of poetry in general, the poetry of the Hebrews is, as we shall presently remark more at length, both deeply truthful and earnestly religious ; nor are we without a hope, that by the time the reader has arrived at the end of this article, he will then, if he is not before, be of the opinion that the poetry which we are about to consider was and is an eminently worthy channel for expressing and conveying the loftiest and holiest feelings of the human heart. Meanwhile we direct attention to a fact—there is poetry in the Bible. In one sense the Bible is full of poetry ; for very much of its contents which is merely prosaic in forni, rises, by force of the noble sentiments which it enun ciates, and the striking or splendid imagery with which these sentiments are adorned, into the sphere of real poetry. Independently of this poetic prose, there is in the Bible much writing which has all the ordinary characteristics of poetry. This state ment the present article will abundantly establish. But even the unlearned reader, when once his mind has been turned to the subject, can hardly fail to recognise at once the essence, if not somewhat of the form, of poetry in various parts of the Bible. And it is no slight attestation to the essentially poetic character of Hebrew poetry that its poetical qualities shine through the distorting coverings of a prose translation. If, however, the reader would at once satisfy himself that there is poetry in the Bible, let him turn to the book of Job, and after having examined its prose introduction, begin to read the poetry itself, as it commences at the third verse of the third chapter.
Much of the Biblical poetry is, indeed, hidden from the ordinary reader by its prose accompani ments, standing, as it does, undistinguished in the midst of historical narrations. This is the case with some of the earliest specimens of Hebrew poetry. Snatches of poetry are discovered in the oldest prose compositions. Even in Gen. iv. 23, seq., are found a few lines of poetry, which Herder incorrectly terms the song of the sword,' thinking it commemorative of the first formation of that weapon. To us it appears to be a fragment of a longer poem, uttered in lamentation for a homicide committed by Lamech, probably in self-defence. It has been already cited in this work. [LAmEcit.] Herder finds in this piece all the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. It is, he thinks, lyrical, has a proportion between its several lines, and even assonance ; in the original the first four lines ter minate with the same letter, making a single or semi-rhyme.
Another poetic scrap is found in Exod. xxxii. IS. Being told by Joshua, on occasion of descending from the mount, when the people had made the golden calf, and were tumultuously offering it their worship ' The sound of war is in the camp ;' Moses said, Not the sound of a shout for victory, Nor the sound of a shout for falling ; The sound of a shout for rejoicing do I hear.
The correspondence in form in the original is here very exact and striking, so that it is difficult to deny that the piece is poetic. If so, are we to conclude that the temperament of the Israelites was so deeply poetic that Moses and Joshua should find the excitement of this occasion sufficient to strike improvisatore verses from their lips ? Or have we here a quotation from some still older song, which occurred to the minds of the speakers by the force of resemblance ? Other instances of scattered poetic pieces may be found in Num. xxi. 14, 15 ; also ver. r8 and ver. 27 ; in which passages evidence may be found that we are not in possession of the entire mass of Hebrew, or, at least, Shemitic literature. Further specimens of very early poetry are found in Num. xxiii. 7, seq. ; xviii. seq. ; xxiv. 3, is.