In English, poetry is distinguished from prose by its rhythm, and meter and rhyme. In earlier English, alliteration was largely used to produce somewhat the same effect as rhyme.

By rhythm we mean the pleasing cadence or orderly flow of sound, due to the inflection and stress of voice falling in such order as to please the ear and seem harmonious to the sense. The excellence of prose depends to some degree on this quality, and the good orator must avoid the combinations of accent and emphasis that do not harmonize with his thought, and also the monotonous or sing-song tones which are so tiresome.

When this rhythm or wave-like quality is reduced to a fixed and regular order we call it meter-or measure. This gives us the first distinctive feature of classical and English poetry. This meter, or measured quality, is given by so arranging our words that we have the accented and unaccented syllables recurring at regular intervals-in some regular order. It may be in groups of two syllables, one of which is accented, and the other is not; as,

"Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone,

He can create and he destroy."

Here the measure is made up of groups of two syllables of which the first is unaccented and the second accented; or,

"Other refuge have I none,

Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,

Still support and comfort me."

This measure is also made up of feet of two syllables, but the accent is on the first. Or, we may have meter in which the group or foot contains three syllables, and the accent falls regularly on any one of them.

As:

"How firm a foundation

Ye saints of the Lord

Is found for your faith in
His excellent word."

Or:

"Come ye disconsolate,

Where'er ye languish

Come to the mercy seat,
Fervently kneel."

And so, in a great variety of ways, the regular recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables gives the pleasing regularity which we call meter, and enables us to fit musical compositions to any number of similar verses.

Rhyme is the recurrence of the same sound at regular intervals. The simplest arrangement of rhyme is the recurrence of the same sound at the end of two or more successive lines; as,

"All praise to thee my God this night

For all the blessings of the light;

Keep me, oh keep me King of Kings
Beneath thy own almighty wings."

But the more common arrangement is the rhyming of the second and fourth lines; as,

"The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want

He makes me down to lie

In pastures green; He leadeth me

The quiet waters by."

Other arrangements are occasionally used, as when the first and fourth, and the second and third lines rhyme together:

"Let knowledge grow from more to more,

But more of reverence in us dwell,

That mind and soul according well,

May make one music as before."

In old English, or Anglo Saxon, somewhat the same effect is produced by the recurrence of the same sound at the beginning, or several words in the same line. But this method has entirely gone out of fashion.

Now the point to notice is this: in all poetic forms there is the conscious effort to express the sentiment in some way that the sound shall have a certain regular beat, or cadence, that is more or less artistic and similar in its effect to musical composition.

It is extremely difficult to translate such poetry from one language to another, for the obvious reason that words of the same meaning in any two languages rarely have the same number of syllables or corresponding accents.

Fortunately for us, the form of Hebrew poetry is not based on meter or rhyme. It does not seem to have given much heed even to rhythm, though a certain regard to the inflections or cadences of speech is naturally observed.

But the essential feature of Hebrew poetry is the arrangement of thought and imagery. The artistic quality is found not in the sound but in the sense.

The fundamental characteristic of the Hebrew poetry is a matching, or balancing, of one expression with another expression of the same sentiment, or of some contrasted thought or feeling; as,

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,

The world and they that dwell therein.

For He hath founded it upon the seas

And established it upon the floods." Psalm 24:1-2 Or

"A soft answer turneth away wrath, But grievous words stir up anger."

Proverbs 15:1.

This feature is called parallelism and is found in all Hebrew poetry.

It is used not only in the simple way illustrated by these examples, but is carried out in a variety of forms, in the arrangement of lines and stanzas, and sometimes of whole Psalms that are set in this parallel relation so as to make a larger unity, as in Psalms 42 and 43; where we have in the combined Psalms three stanzas, each closing with the refrain, "Why are thou cast down, O my soul?"

The influence of this arrangement is best appreciated by the simple experiment of reading any of the Psalms omitting the second line of each couplet.

As,

"Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the wicked. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. The wicked are not so. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the Judgment. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the wicked shall perish." Psalm I.

The various forms in which this principle of poetic composition is carried out are admirably shown by Dr. Moulton in his book "LITERARY STUDIES OF THE BIBLE," and more fully illustrated in his "MODERN READERS' BIBLE," where the printing of the lines brings out this parallel structure as it cannot otherwise be expressed.

We cannot here give even a passing glance at all these forms, but you will find them very interesting and exceedingly helpful to a more perfect appreciation of the beauty and the meaning of the Psalms and other poetic books of Scripture.

This feature of Hebrew poetry is important also in its influence on the prose writings of the Bible, especially in the prophetic books where we find many of the most beautiful passages are really poetry, not only in their picturesque and figurative quality but in their form as well.

For example, the beautiful fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is composed entirely on this order of duplication or parallelism. 1. "Who hath believed our report.

2. To whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed.

1. He shall grow up before him as a tender plant.

2. As a root out of a dry ground.

1. He hath no form nor comeliness.

2. When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire.

1. He was despised and rejected of men.

2. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." And so on throughout.

The same principle influenced the language of our Lord, and the recognition of it is sometimes necessary to the full understanding of his teaching. For example, the passage, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you."

Here we have a poetic form quite common in Hebrewcalled by Dr. Moulton the envelope figure-where the first and last lines match, and the second with the third; so that the meaning is, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, lest they turn and rend you; neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet."

It is worth noting also, that the form of the Lord's Prayer is influenced by this principle.

"Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven."

So the meaning is manifestly,