Biblical Poetry

Poetry describes literature that is written in verse. Poetry often uses figurative language, such as symbolism and metaphors, and it seeks to evoke strong emotions from the reader. While poetry can be authored in different meter or structure, Hebrew poetry leveraged a lot of parallelism. In such cases, the second line restates or reinforces the first line in some fashion. Though there are books of the Bible written solely in poetic form, biblical poetry is found throughout the entirety of the Bible. Interestingly, approximately one-third of the Bible is written in poetry.

Key Concepts

• Poetry in the Bible is Scripture written in verse.
• Poetry should not necessarily be taken literally on every occasion as it is filled with symbolism, metaphors, word pictures, and emotions.

Examples