Book of Lamentations - Structure

Structure

The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic, but also has twenty-two verses. In the second, third and fourth chapters, the order of the 16th letter (ע) and the 17th (פ) is reversed.

Read more about this topic:  Book Of Lamentations

Famous quotes containing the word structure:

    “With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.”
    —James Thurber (1894–1961)

    “In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government.”
    —James Madison (1751–1836)

    “Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it.”
    —Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)