Article
Poetry
Notable characteristics:
- Parallelism of meaning between the two halves (or three) parts of the line
- There is no requirement of rhyme (it occasionally occurs, apparently ad hoc)
- No regular metre (e.g. in Greek and Latin, or English iambic pentameter)
- Rhythmic compactness (its greatest loss in translation). A typical line of Biblical poetry has three beats in each half line
- Chronological development from repetition to forward dynamism.
Psalms, however:
- Rarely seek startling effects
- Use familiar images
- Rarely use surprise or disorientation in worship
- Produce great poetry from stock images
Alter says: "The reliance of these poems, however, on a repertoire of traditional images and stereotypical phrases does not preclude the creation of fresh and moving poetry. ... Some of the poetic power of the Psalms derives from their strategically effective use of fairly simple, archetypal imagery".
Translation
Biblical Hebrew is synthetic, eliminating, for example, 'obvious' verbs and pronouns) whereas English is analytic, with a much larger lexicography still, however, lacking some vital Jewish words. Syntax is variable according to rhythm (as with the use of inversion to facilitate rhyme in Victorian verse). Vide Psalm 23:4
- King James "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil" - 17 words, 20 syllables
- Hebrew - 8 words, 11 syllables
- Alter's translation: "Though I walk in the vale of death's shadow, I fear no harm" - 13 words, 14 syllables.
Biblical Hebrew uses fewer abstractions than English; and it is important to avoid multi syllabic Latinisms. For example, het means to miss the mark, to rebel, but its usual translation of "sin" overloads it with theological meaning; likewise translating nefesh as "soul" and yeshu'ah as salvation are not authentic in Psalms where the former really means "life breath" and the latter "escape from a tight corner" in the here and now.
Partly taken from
Alter, Robert: The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary, W.W. Norton, 2007 (commission earned)
KC VII/08
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Added: 24th October 2008
Added: 24th October 2008