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  • From: Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] O'Connor-Length of Poetic Lines
  • Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:59:29 -0400

>===== Original Message From dwashbur AT nyx.net =====
>I was wondering about this as I read your analysis. How likely or possible
is
>it that poetic structure changed between the time of most BH poetry and the
>Qumran poem you analyzed? If there was a lot of change, that would render
>O'Connor's approach useless for the Qumran poetry but perhaps useful for the
>BH poetry.

As Ken suggests toward the end of the excerpt (and O'Connor has confirmed
this
to me privately), the method, because it is intended to link poetic structure
to the structure of the language in general, is best restricted to a
particular dialect. O'Connor does not expect it to work as applied woodenly
to
Qumran material; rather, it would require a complete replication of the
study,
so that unique features of Qumran syntax were taken into account. This would
include things like adjusting the line length, but the whole system would
need
to be re-evaluated for a different linguistic setting.

Personally, I think O'Connor's system has a lot to commend it. If nothing
else, it should generally prove enlightening to work out its features on a BH
poem for comparison purposes. BTW, although O'Connor has added a supplement
in
the later edition, I believe the main text remains unchanged from 1980. As
such, it reflects some ideas that he no longer holds. I think it's safe to
say
that the basic approach remains intact in his current teaching, though.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics





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