Integration and Unintegrated Lines, Rhythm in Lamentations, and Line-Length Constraints

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 7 address three of the remaining issues in biblical poetry: unintegrated lines, the so-called qinah meter, and line lengths. First, it discusses the artistry of integration and unintegrated lines. Although biblical lines emerge in part-whole relationships of lines and line-groupings, this system of versification does not rule out the occurrence of single lines that are unintegrated in line-groupings, nor does it prevent integration at levels higher than the line-grouping, such as stanzas and entire poems. Second, this chapter argues that the book of Lamentations, which has long been used as the prime example of qinah meter in biblical poetry, is not metrical. Rather, both the line structure and effects of its laments are best accounted for by the very same constraints of part-whole grouping that account for the rest of biblical free-rhythm poetry. Third, this chapter addresses how short or long lines can be in biblical poetry in connection with the constraints of Gestalt perception and immediate memory.