Does Ancient Hebrew Poetry Have Meter?

Abstract

The study addresses the much-debated question of whether Hebrew poetic composition is characterized by meter. I examine the question in the light of ancient Greco-Roman literary theory and its reflections on Greek and Latin periodic prose. Greco-Roman theorists chart a spectrum of poetic composition, with ordinary prose on one end, metered poetry on the other, and poetic or "periodic" prose occupying a middle ground between the two. I show that (a) Hebrew poetic composition is characterized by the same formal devices as Greco-Roman periodic prose; (b) these devices structure Hebrew poetry into the same periodic literary form seen in Greco-Roman periodic prose; and (c) this form produces the same rhythmic effect as in Greco-Roman periodic prose, one that is natural, not intentionally summoned, and of comparative irregularity. Micah 3:9–12, Wilfred G. E. Watson's alleged "good illustration" of "regular metrical pattern," is examined as a case in point.

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