Theories of biblical Hebrew verse are many and
varied and fraught with dispute and difficulty, and
the post-biblical commentator is confronted with
any number of hurdles. In particular there is the
problem of rhythm or metre. However one chooses
to measure regularity in biblical verse, there is
the difficulty that biblical poetry often diverges
from any kind of strict metrical set or pattern.
Taking biblical Hebrew verse to be an accentual
system of versification, the present work surveys
the major writers and their contributions, and
treats of some technicalities of accentual versification,
as well as parallelism. It argues that the
shape of our thought needs to shift, that if we can
keep the problems of biblical verse simple, we can
give to them simple solutions. It suggests a cognitive
approach to the accentual irregularities of biblical
verse. It shows that such an approach can account
without strain for the relationship between
the structure of biblical verse - even when its accentual
pattern runs irregular - and its perceived
rhythmic effect. It gives a new shape to our understanding
of Hebrew verse and how it is that we
see its chief markers - parallelism, rhythmic patterning
and terseness - to interact.