The Nature of the Biblical Hebrew Poetic Line

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 3, the heart of this book’s cognitive approach, explores the nature of the line in biblical poetry. The term “line” is defined as the basic unit of structure and rhythm in a versification system. The problem with the term “line” for biblical poetry is that the biblical poetic line is not linear, graphically or conceptually. Biblical poetic lines must be reconceptualized not as straight and parallel but as various kinds of segments that create shapes or figures, the line-groupings of biblical poetry. Biblical poetry is compared with English metrical and free-verse poetry to show how the mental realization of lines differs in these versification systems. In biblical poetry, line structure emerges in the part-whole relationship of the line to the line-grouping, through the mental process of segregating lines and integrating line-groupings.