A Manual of Hebrew Poetics

by Luis Alonso Schökel

Publisher:

Pontifical Biblical Institute

, 2000

Overview

A Manual of Hebrew Poetics is a helpful guide for analyzing Hebrew poetics. The volume’s primary purpose is not to serve as a source of information about facts and authors but, rather, to initiate the reader into the stylistic analysis of poetry. Everything that this manual contains by way of definition, description, or classification is given as a means to doing analysis. For this reason, many of the chapters and sections either begin or end with an example of analysis. The manual is not primarily a reference book but, instead, a volume of initiation into the practice of analysis. Among the poetic techniques discussed are sound and sonority, rhythm, imagery, figures of speech, dialogue and monologue, development, and composition.

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Key Features

• Hebrew poetical analysis
• Preface by the author
• Bibliographical references and indexes

Contents

Top Highlights

“Alliteration is the repetition of a consonantal sound at the beginning of a word.” (Page 22)

“The 3 + 3 verse is the most frequent in Hebrew poetry” (Page 37)

“The Hebrews do not welcome myths as narratives, but they have no difficulty in incorporating mythical motifs into their lyric texts, with fewer scruples or inhibitions as time goes on. The mythical motif is ‘historicised’ or reduced to its primordial symbolic function.” (Page 17)

“When, instead of a common noun, the word play concerns a proper name, the technique is called paronomasia” (Page 30)

“The literature of the OT is a developed literature, the result of a long and stable tradition. It is open to foreign influences and well-used to elaborating and re-elaborating earlier or foreign material. For this reason mixed genres are frequent, and many works resist tidy classification. This is why the study of motifs which can transfer to different genres may be just as important as the study of literary genres. And what happens with the myths happens also with folk tales.” (Page 19)

Product Details

• Title: A Manual of Hebrew Poetics
• Author: Luis Alonso Schokel
• Publisher: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 228

About Luis Alonso Schökel

Luis Alonso Schokel (1920–1998) was born in Madrid. In 1935, he entered the Society of Jesus in Belgium. He studied classical literature at Salamanca, philosophy at Ona (Burgos), and theology at Comillas. From 1951 to 1957, he studied Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and received licentiate and doctoral degrees. From 1957 to 1995, he was a professor of sacred Scripture at the Institute, and he lectured widely in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. He authored many books and articles.