On Biblical Poetry

by F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp

On Biblical Poetry takes a fresh look at the nature of biblical Hebrew poetry beyond its currently best-known feature, parallelism. F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp argues that biblical poetry is in most respects just like any other verse tradition, and therefore biblical poems should be read and interpreted like other poems, using the same critical tools and with the same kinds of guiding assumptions in place. He offers a series of programmatic essays on major facets of biblical verse, each aspiring to alter currently regnant conceptualizations in the field and to show that attention to aspects of prosody--rhythm, lineation, and the like--allied with close reading can yield interesting, valuable, and even pleasurable interpretations. What distinguishes the verse of the Bible, says Dobbs-Allsopp, is its historicity and cultural specificity, those peculiar encrustations and encumbrances that typify all human artifacts. Both the literary and the historical, then, are in view throughout.The concluding essay elaborates a close reading of Psalm 133. This chapter enacts the final movement to the set of literary and historical arguments mounted throughout the volume--an example of the holistic staging which, Dobbs-Allsopp argues, is much needed in the field of Biblical Studies.

597 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2015

Reviews

[Nathan Harden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobbs-Allsopp's knowledge of Hebrew and Biblical poetry is obviously encyclopedic. However, his writing at times is rather long winded and unnecessarily erudite.

[Cain S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's treatment of biblical poetry, sensitive to the sonority and semantics of the original Hebrew texts, is admirable in its attention to detail. However, his style of exposition leaves much to be desired. The many restatements of fundamentally sound claims about the informing orality of non-metrical biblical poetry, its stichic (line centric) compositional schemes, its use of parallelism in themes as well as presentation in terms of typographical layout, and the lost historical cultural assumptions that animate the tenors and vehicles of extended metaphors and similes that have been rendered perplexing if not opaque by the passage of time, are informative but try the patience even of diligent readers really curious about the topic. The book, heavy as it is in style and substance, could've been substantially leaner while retaining its meatiness.
3.5/5