CLA/WLIT 196
Ancient Lyric Poetry

Assignment for 2/28
CLAS/WLIT 196 Lyric Poetry in the Bible

Hi All,

I hope this hodge-podge of biblical excerpts won’t be too confusing. All texts available at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/rsv.browse.html (or link through course webpage). The selections are chosen, like the Song of Songs today, to illustrate the common ground between the ancient Hebrew musical tradition and that of the larger Near East. However the differences are equally striking or more so. There WILL be a quiz.

1. Songs of Patriarchal Age, These are the major songs believed by many to be genuine survivals of the Patriarchal period (i.e. before 1000 BCE).
Exodus 15 (Song of the Sea a.k.a Songs of Moses and Miriam)
Deuteronomy 31:30¬–32:1–52 (Song of Moses)
Judges 4:23–5:31 (Song of Deborah and Barak).

2. Music in the United Monarchy (David and Solomon, 10th-9th century BCE)

First read:
I Sam. 8:1–5, 8:19–20
I Sam. 16:23 (David and Saul)
I Kings 4.32-4 (learning of Solomon), then 1 Kings 6 (building of temple); 1 Chronicles 16 (building of temple alternative version)

Then read:
Song of David (2 Samuel 22 = Psalm 18)

3. Lamentations 1

4. Choose one Psalm from the Book of Psalms, any psalm (it does not have to be one in the list below, this is just to give you an idea of the range of subject matter).  Many of these were traditionally attributed to David; they effectively represent the range of musical genres that would have been performed in the liturgy of the early temple. Come up with something interesting to say about it in class (I will project it): you might look for similarities or differences with similar types of poems we have encountered elsewhere in the NE, or perhaps points of compositional interest (see http://www.kingmixers.com/CLA196/poetics/Poetics.html for various devices).

Psalms
royal accession or anniversary: 2, 21, 72, 110
royal vows: 101
prayers by or for king before battle: 20, 144
military thanksgiving / victory song: 18, 118
collective divine praise hymns: 95, 98, 100, 148, 150 etc.
personal divine praise hymns: 103, 104
personal ‘trust in god in spite of all’: 4, 11, 23, 27, 62, 91, 121.
thanksgiving: 107, 136
harvest: 67
personal thanksgiving: 30, 66, 116, 138
 Lament over national disaster: 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 89
personal lament: 3 , 5–7, 13, etc.
prayer in time of national danger: 83
Psalms attributed to David are 3–41, 51-71, 108–10, 138–45