Problems in Analysing Hebrew Poetry

'Poetry' and 'prose' are categories which are normally used to distinguish the two main types of discourse in language. But there is some debate whether this division is helpful and valid when applied to the discourse of the Hebrew Bible. Whereas most scholars accept the validity of the two categories, Kugel (1981) has argued forcefully that the category of poetry is a misleading imposition of a foreign concept when applied to the biblical materials. He argues that what has been called 'poetry' is better seen as a widely varying complex of rhetorical features which elevate the style, but which are also present to a lesser degree in prose. Unlike classical European poetry, there is no rhyme, alliteration or regular meter sharply to distinguish poetry from prose. Rather there is a continuum between more loosely organised discourse with few heightening features and more elevated discourse with an increasing number of heightening features such as parallelism and terseness (Kugel, p. 85).