The chief characteristics, however, of Hebrew poetry are found in the peculiar form in which it gives utterance to its ideas. This form has received the name of parallelism.' Ewald justly prefers the term thought-rhythm,' since the rhythm, the music, the peculiar flow and harmony of the verse, and of the poem, lie in the distribution of the sen timent in such a manner that the full import does not come out in less than a distich. It is to this peculiarity, which is obviously in the substance and not the mere form of the poetry, that the transla tion of the Psalms in our Bibles owes much of its remarkable character, and is distinguished from prose by terms clearly and decidedly poetic ; and many though the imperfections are which attach, some almost necessarily, to that version, still it re tains so much of the form and substance, of the simple beauty and fine harmony of the original Hebrew, that we give it a preference over most poetic translations, and always feel disposed to warn away from this holy ground the rash hands that often attempt, with no fit preparation, to touch the sacred harp of Zion.
Those who wish to enter thoroughly into the subject of Hebrew rhythm are referred to the most recent and best work on the subject, by the learned Hebrew scholar Ewald, who has translated into German all the poetical hooks of the O. T. (Die Poet. Bucher des Altos Bundes, z 835-39, 4 vols. 8vo, vol. i., pp. 57-9h). A shorter and more simple account will better suit these pages ; which we take in substance from Gesenius (Hebrdisches Lesebuch, t7th edit. by De Wette, Leipzig 1844). The leading principle is, that a simple verse or distich consists, both in regard to form and substance, of two corresponding members : this has been termed Hebrew rhythm or Parallelismus membrorum. Three kinds may be specified. There is first the synonymous parallelism, which consists in this, that the two members express the same thought in different words, so that sometimes word answers to word : for example ' What is man that thou art mindful of him, And the son of man that thou carest for him ?' Ps. viii. 4.
There is in some cases an inversion in the second line— `The heavens relate the glory of God, And the work of his hands the firmament de clares.' Ps. xix. 2.
He maketh his messengers the winds, His ministers the flaming lightning.' Ps. civ. 4.
Very often the second member repeats only a part of the first— `Woe to them that join house to house, That field to field unite.' Is. v. 8.
Sometimes the verb which stands in the first mem ber is omitted in the second ' 0 God, thy justice give the king, And thy righteousness to the king's son.' Ps. lxxii. I.
Or the verb may be in the second member— `With the jawbone of an ass heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.' Judg. xv. 16.
The second member may contain an expansion of the first- Give to Jehovah, ye sons of God, Give to Jehovah glory and praise.' Ps. xxix. r Indeed the varieties are numerous, since the syno. nymous parallelism is very frequent.
The second kind is the antithetic, in which the first member is illustrated by some opposition of thought contained in the second. This less cus tomary kind of parallelism is found mostly in the Proverbs— `The full man treadeth the honeycomb under foot, To the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.' Prov. xxvii. 7.
Under this head comes the following, with other similar examples ` Day to day uttereth instruction, And night to night sheweth knowledge.' The third kind is denominated the synthetic ; pro bably the term epithetic would be more appropriate, since the second member not being a mere echo of the first, subjoins something new to it, while the same structure of the verse is preserved ; thus ' He appointed the moon for seasons ; The sun knoweth his going down.' Ps. civ. 19. The law of Jehovah is perfect, reviving the soul ; The precepts of Jehovah are sure, instructing the simple.' Ps. xix. 7.
This correspondence of thought is occasionally found in Greek and Latin poetry, particularly in the interlocutions of the eclogues of Theocritus and Virgil. The two following distichs are specimens of the antithetic parallelism Dam. Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imber, Arboribus venti ; nobis Amaryllidis Men. Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus hmdis, Lenta salix fceto pecori ; mihi solus Amyntas.' Pope's writings present specimens which may be compared with the antithetical parallelism. In his Rape of the Lock, passages of the kind abound. We opened his Essay on Criticism, and the first lines our eye fell on were these ' A little learning is a dang'rous thing : Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring : There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.' So in his Messiah, where he was likely to copy the form in imitating the spirit of the original— `The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead ; The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.' This correspondence in thought is not, however, of universal occurrence. We find a merely rhyth mical parallelism in which the thought is not re peated, but goes forward, throughout the verse, which is divided midway into two halves or a distich `The word is not upon the tongue, Jehovah thou knowest it altogether.' Ps. cxxxviii. 4.