There then remain, as a third class, the poetic books, that is, the lyric and gnomologic (or sententious) writings, namely, the Psalms, Job, the Salomonic writings, and the Lamentations. All of these-with the exception of Solomon's Song, which was probably explained in an allegorical manner, to judge from its reception into the canon-have a religious, but not a theocratical character.

§ 126.

VARIOUS STYLES, POETIC AND PROSAIC.

Since every peculiar subject brings with it a peculiar form, the above classification must be confirmed by a difference in the style of the several divisions. The Hebrews, like other nations, have their poetic and prosaic style, which differ from one another in the substance of the discourse; that is, in the use of more choice and flowing language, (§ 34,) and in the form of the movement. The former has a quiet and irregular motion; the latter a dancing and measured movement, — a rhythm.

The quiet form of prose is suited to the quiet, simple narration of historical events; therefore the historical books, with the exception of single passages, are written in prose. But since, in the quiet movement of the style, the law of euphony and harmony is not at all inadmissible, in many historical passages, for example, Gen. i. xxiii., Ex. vii.—x., Num. xxii.—xxiv., - there is not only a certain numerus, [or measure,] but likewise an attempt at a rhythmical movement, and a division into strophes. This kind of prose may be called the epic, and the other the common.

§ 127.

RHYTHMICAL BOOKS.

Soon as the Hebrew began to write with a higher inspiration, and rose above a simple narrative of events, and drew out of his own soul, rhythm came to him spontaneously. For this reason, the theocratical-inspired and poetic books are written in a rhythmical style. But they are written in various degrees of rhythm, according as the writer was more or less inspired. Some passages in the Prophets and Ecclesiastes rise little, or not at all, above prose, or soon sink back into it. This transition from prose to rhythm, and the reverse, constitutes a peculiar beauty of Hebrew poetry; but it is only obtained by the remarkable irregularity of its rhythm.

§ 128.

SYMMETRY OF THE MEMBERS.

The Hebrews neglect the rhythm of syllables, and, in this respect, recognize only an irregular measure, (numerus,) which sometimes has a uniform movement." But the proportion of the members in the sentence is deter

Since, in Hebrew, all the syllables have the same duration, or, according to the systema morarum, three moments of time, for example, 2, 39, -therefore the change of the tone (Wechsel der Rede) is produced by the accent, which gives the tone-syllable greater emphasis; for example, This law once admitted, there would generally be found a free mixture of iambuses, (,,) trochees, (,,) amphibrachs, (,)

anapests, (,) &c.

Sometimes there would be a predominance of iambic, trochaic, or anapestic movement; for example,

mined by the law of symmetry,-parallelismus membrorum,the fundamental law of all rhythmical movement, which always consists in a certain uniform return. The Samaritan and Ethiopian languages have merely a measure of lines, without any measure of syllables. In Hebrew poetry, this return is given in its simplest form, in the succession of two corresponding members, as it were the pulse-beat of the discourse, by which the swelling heart expresses its emotions.

"The Hebrew soul," says a writer, "is the silent, yet still unfathomed deep of the divine in man. It is not the ocean over which the winds are sweeping, and in which all the floods rush together; but it is the lowest, the living deep and fountain, which only discloses itself in a soft and gentle stream, scarcely perceptible to mortal ear. Hence there is the simple parallelism, which continually recurs, and the unconfined and unadorned heart of poetry, with its uniform beat.""

For this discovery we are indebted to Bellermann, Versuch. üb. d. Metrik d. Hebräer; Berl. 1813. But he goes too far when he attempts to prove there is actual versification in the Hebrew poetry. To this it may be added that, perhaps, the shevas when a consonant is closely connected with them, and the composite shevas, form half a short syllable, so that in the last exam

ple we must scan thus:

N. Leutwein, also, has referred to the

numerus, Biblische Verskunst; Tüb. 1795.

a 66

Rhythm which is a fundamental law of the voice

can never be entirely wanting in any human discourse. But it appears the more distinctly

At the same time, this form helps to overcome the peculiarity of the language, and the constant use of, and even fondness for, tautology and synonymes, which is characteristic of the Hebrew, when not overruled by inspiration, and filled with the subject. This instinct, which makes divisions or cæsuras between the larger members of the discourse, brings with it a symmetry, and demands also caesuras and symmetry within the members or half-verses thus divided and arranged one after the other; and these subordinate passages or subdivisions of the rhythm become the more frequent as the discourse is more rich in thought and takes a wider compass. Thus there are verses of a single member, at the beginning of a beginning of a psalm, (Ps. xviii. 2, xxiii. 1,) like the preliminary beating time, but rarely in the middle of the ode. (Ps. xlii. 9.)

$129.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SYMMETRY OF MEMBERS.

1. SYMMETRY OF WORDS.

Since the Hebrews have no measure of syllables, they cannot mark the symmetry by using an equal number of syllables. Their poetry consists chiefly in the thought, and, therefore, it has a rhythm of thoughts. But since the thought is expressed in words, the original

as the waves of voice swell higher with the increasing elevation of feeling, and the mass and power of the rhythmical movement increases in proportion; consequently the effort to preserve an equilibrium is more decided, and the successive risings and fallings extend farther. This takes place the most perfectly in poetry—when the soul, tuned in harmony with the gentlyswelling wave of life, pours out her thought in symmetrical ranks, which are sometimes merely internal, expressed only in the thoughts, -as in the Hebrew parallelism, and the poetry of the people in general, — and sometimes

and simplest form of symmetry is that shown by an equal number of words in the corresponding members of the sentence."

But here a word must often be repeated in thought. A similar sound, or rhyme, is sometimes found at the end of the lines."

For the sake of this rhyme, suitable grammatical forms are sometimes designedly selected, and even sought for."

§ 130.

2. SYMMETRY OF THOUGHTS.

A. With similar Members.

The Hebrews seldom seek for similarity between the words in the different members of a sentence, or they follow this rule with great looseness. The symmetry is rather expressed in the thoughts

they are also external, expressed in the particular sounds, - as in the poetry of the Greeks and other nations, which is measured by syllables." Hupfeld, in Studien und Kritiken, for 1837, p. 869, sq. See Ewald, Poet. Buch. der A. T. vol. i. p. 57, sq., 92, sq. Gügler, Die heilige Kunst; Lands. 1815.

Ps. xx. 9. Prov. x. 15. Ps. xix. 8. Ewald, l. c. vol. i. p. 65.

See § 132.

Job xxxvii. 16. Amos v. 26.