"This study will draw insights from cross-cultural comparisons of ancient love poetry and from research on oral poetic performative art still practiced by traditional cultures today. Composed as love poetry, the Song of Songs is rooted in popular culture; it did not arise in a formal religious setting and was not originally performed in the temple. Essential in this study of the Song is close attention to translation of the Hebrew, the dynamics of Hebrew biblical poetry, including a feature of ancient "gendered" composing, ...
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"This study will draw insights from cross-cultural comparisons of ancient love poetry and from research on oral poetic performative art still practiced by traditional cultures today. Composed as love poetry, the Song of Songs is rooted in popular culture; it did not arise in a formal religious setting and was not originally performed in the temple. Essential in this study of the Song is close attention to translation of the Hebrew, the dynamics of Hebrew biblical poetry, including a feature of ancient "gendered" composing, and other rhetorical techniques. All of this contributes to seeing and hearing the extraordinary artistic beauty and sophistication of the lyrics in the Song and their timeless quality.These lament Psalms (as is true for Lamentations) also contain appeals to God for help, which is the other genre of lament-lament as prayerful plea or petition. The q???in???ot, as communal laments for destruction, are also found in Mesopotamia and other cultures worldwide"--
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