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REL 310

Poetic and Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament

Glossary

Acrostic

A poem in which the first letter of each line is in some definite sequence, most usually alphabetic, though sometimes in English poetry they will spell out a word or someone's name. Hebrew acrostics occur in Psalms 15, 34, 37, 111, 112, 145, Proverbs 31:10-31, and the Book of Lamentations. Psalm 119 is an acrostic in which every line of each section begins with the same letter of the alohabet.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial sounds in a series of words

Allusion

Reference to some common cultural experience, eg. in literature, history, mythology, or the Bible, that is not spelled out in the text but that the author expects the reader to recognize.

Anadiplosis

The phrase at the end of one line is repeated at the beginning of the next. eg. Psalm 121:1-2 :

From whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from the Lord

Anapest

Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (duh-duh-DA), as in Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib"

The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold

Antithesis

The second line contradicts or contrasts with the first, eg. Proverbs 10:1

A wise son maketh a glad father,
but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother

Archaismv

The use of archaic words, eg. Thee, Thou art, Thou hast, e'en (evening)

Archetype

An original idea or image of something of cultural significance

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words, e.g., " God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manley Hopkins :

All is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

Blank verse

Lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter

Climactic parallelism

The second line partially balances the first, but also adds a thought or completes it. eg. Psalm 29:1

Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Dactyl

A stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (DA-duh-duh). So called because the one long and two short reminded people of the bones of our fingers

Didactic poems

Poems which teach or give instruction. Didactic poems appeal to reason rather than to the senses

Dimeter

A line of poetry with just two meters

Dirge

A song or poem of mourning, suffering, or sorrow for sin. Examples are David's Laments on the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:19-27), and on the death of Abner (2 Sam. 3:33), and Psalms 16, 22, 27, & 39 (suffering) and psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 106, 130, & 143 (repentance)

Doggerel

Verse of little literary value, trite

Dramatic monologue

A single speaker talking to one or more unseen listeners

End-stopped line

A line of poetry that has a full pause at the end

Enjambment

A sentence runs over from one line of poetry to the next

Epanalepsis

A sentence begins and ends with the soame word

Epic

A long narrative poem dealing with some great hero or historical event. eg. Homer's epics on the Siege of Troy and the wanderings of Odysseus

Exhortatory poem

Urges the hearers to some form of action

Foot

A group of a stressed syllable with one or two unstressed or stressed syllables.
Common feet in English poetry are the anapest, dactyl, iamb, spondee, & trochee

Haiku

A Japanese poetic form in three lines, of 5, 7, and 5 syllables

Hemistich

Half line of verse, particularly half of a Hebrew poetic line

Hexameter

A poetic line with six "feet". In English poetry, it usually consists of dactyls and spondees for the first 4, then a dactyl, then a spondee :
eg. | DA-duh-duh | DA-duh-duh | DA-DA | DA-duh-duh | DA-duh-duh | DA-DA |

Hyperbole

Figurative speech, with intentional overstatement or exaggeration

Iamb

A metric foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
eg. | duh-DA | duh-DA | duh-DA | duh-DA |

Imagery

A figure of speech that evokes a mental picture of something. eg. Robert Burns

O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
O, my love is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune

Limerick

A 5-line poem of a particular form, usually witty or humorous, sometimes obscene

Lyric Poetry

Expresses the feelings of an individual, often the poet.

Macaronic poetry

Verse which uses a mixture of languages.
eg Alfred Denis Godley wrote "The Motor Bus", which gives the various endings which second and third declension nouns can take

What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum Indicat Motorem Bum!
Implet in the Corn and High
Terror me Motoris Bi:
Bo Motori clamitabo
Ne Motore caedar a Bo---
Dative be or Ablative
So thou only let us live:---
Whither shall thy victims flee?
Spare us, spare us, Motor Be!
Thus I sang; and still anigh
Came in hordes Motores Bi,
Et complebat omne forum
Copia Motorum Borum.
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hos Motores Bos!

Metaphor

Comparison of two unlike things

Meter

The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line.

Monologue

The whole poem is presented as if spoken by only one person

Monometer

A line of poetry consisting of only one foot

Neologism - Coined word

A new word, usually made up by the author

Nonsense verse

A form of poetry which is intentionally and overtly paradoxical, silly, witty, whimsical or just plain strange

Onomatopoeia

When the sound of a word resembles what it describes (snap, crackle, pop)

Oxymoron

A phrase containing contradictory elements, eg. "black light"

Parallelism

Two lines of poetry reflect the same or opposing ideas; the second line repeats the first, usually with slightly different words.

Pentameter

A line of poetry with five feet

Personification

Attributing human qualities to things that are not human

Poetic license

The freedom which poets have to change the word order, use archaic words or speech, eg. raineth, e'en (even, evening), o'er (over), e'er (ever), lookéd

Pyrrhic

A metric foot consisting of two short syllables

Rhyme (or Rime) scheme

The order in which rymed words occur. eg. a-b-a-b

Scan a line of poetry

Determine the metrical pattern of the line

Simile

Comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as"

Sonnet

A poem consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentamenters. The first eight lines are called the "octave", the last six lines are the "sextet"

Spondee

A metric foot consisting of two stressed syllables eg. | DA-DA |

Stanza

A a metrical or thematic group of lines in a poem

Synonymous parallelism

the second hemistich (half line of verse) is similar to first, with some variations. eg. Amos 5:24 :

But let judgment run down as waters,
and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Tetrameter

A line of poetry containing four feet

Trimeter

A line of poetry containing three feet

Trochee

(pronounced TROE-KHEE) : A metric foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, eg. | DA-duh |
eg. The Song of Hiawatha :

Then the little Hiawatha learned of every beast the language

Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved

Dr. Rollinson

Department of Religion
ENMU
Portales, NM 88130

Last Updated: September 9, 2007

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