Every psalm is an example of poetry. So, what’s poetry? Poetry is not prose. Prose is what you are reading right now. Ordinary communication. Written the same exact way that it would be ordinarily spoken. The word, prose, comes from a Latin expression, prosa oratio, “straightforward speech”. Communication with no embellishment. The brilliant Oxford literature professor, John Carey, says that “poetry relates to language as music relates to noise.” We generally prefer that our noise is made special so that it becomes music. Not all of us prefer that our language is made special, but that’s what poetry is. Poetry is prose, made special.
A poem, then, is ordinary language, made special. Whereas ordinary language communicates meaning in a literal way, the specialness of poetry is that it communicates meaning in an aesthetic way. Poetry communicates using images and feelings so that the meaning, once apprehended, will be understood in a more personal, emotional way.
Poetry uses a variety of techniques to get the job done. Poetry may utilize certain words that produce a rhythm or cadence within each line; this is why the length of a line is deliberately controlled, and often varies. Poetry may also rhyme from line to line so that certain lines have a special relationship. Poetry employs a whole toolbox of literary devices to communicate in an aesthetic way: words and phrases that sound alike, or mean multiple things, or spark emotions, or, when read aloud, sound like nothing a normal person would say while standing in line at the grocery store. Poetry is prose, made special.
Each psalm, and there are 150 of them, is a specific kind of poem called a lyric. As you have already assumed, this kind of poem is associated with short poetry to be sung to musical accompaniment, perhaps a lyre (if you know someone who has one). This association is quite ancient. Lyric poems were not invented by the Greeks, but we find a large number of them among the Greek writers of the sixth century BC, right around the time of Malachi and the close of the Old Testament. Truth be told, the Greeks preferred other kinds of literature over lyric poems, like plays, history and, obviously, philosophy. In fact, it was the philosopher, Aristotle (fourth century BC), who gave us the division of poetry into three headings: lyrical, dramatic, and epic. Even in this grouping, Greeks far preferred dramatic poetry; they preferred attending plays to listening to music.
What is it that makes a lyric poem a lyric poem? These poems are short poems that convey the thoughts or feelings of the poet. These poems do not ordinarily tell stories or recount history. They are not particularly smooth-flowing. Normally, they don’t prattle on forever. They never propose a dense philosophy. How is a lyric poem launched? A personal experience. The personal experience is about the poet’s thoughts or feelings. Sometimes nature or a world event is involved, but the lyric is launched by the poet’s thoughts and feelings.
The life of the lyric poet matters. If the poet is a member of the royal family whose life was full of luxury and privilege, their thoughts and feelings might be different from a commoner. If the poet is highly educated, or cosmopolitan, or of a high status, that might impact the kinds of thoughts and feelings they experience. William Wordsworth reinvented English poetry by writing lyric poetry from the perspective of poor laborers far from the city. He and Samuel Taylor Coleridge did this in the collection, Lyrical Ballads, of 1789. The public was mesmerized.
Every lyric poem follows a fairly basic structure. The first verse or two introduces the thought or feeling which the poet wants to share. This is the theme. The middle section develops this narrow theme in sometimes unexpected ways. The final verse or two closes the theme with the take-away or main application. This structure is standard. Hasn’t changed. Ever. It’s a lyric poem.
John F. Jones
King's Cross Senior Pastor
