"I'm Proud Because"

This semester I'm enrolled in an Old Testament class taught by none other than the ancient-Hebrew-language-extraordinaire Dr. Parry! He believes that to fully grasp the depth, meaning, and beauty of the Old Testament we must understand minute forms of Hebraic poetry; I quite agree with him. However. His last assignment took good chunk of time to complete.

Get this-- Provide 40 examples of poetic parallelisms (use at least 13 of the 16 classifications), 4 incidences of Chiasmus, and 10 forms of poetic symbols (must include both metonymy and synechdoche). Also, please be sure to use examples from both the Writings and the Prophets (sections of the Old Testament). Label connected pieces of text within verses using separate format devices. WHOA MAN. Soooo....I identified this and wanted you all to see how cool it is. Happy Wednesday-- learn something!

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scournful.

Psalms 1:1

This passage is a "progressive parallelism" because the action described is progressive (ie "the lord TAKES HIS PLACE to plead a cause, and STANDS to judge the people," Isaiah 3:13). I'm so proud of me! It's about a man who progressively comes to be among the wicked: he first walks, then stands, then sits... in their counsel, in their way, and in their seat. (I grouped the parallelisms together with italics, underline, and bold here so you know what I mean.)

And can I just say that I love Isaiah? He's fabulous! Nearly all of my examples came from him. Way cooler than Shakespeare.

Also-- Isaiah 22:22-- is both an antithetical parallelism and a chiasmus. And yes, I love that I know that. Check it out:

A -- so he shall open

B -- and none shall shut

B -- and he shall shut

A -- and none shall open

He shall open , and none shall shut

He shall shut, and none shall open.

I also love that spellcheck keeps telling me that "chiasmus" and "standeth" aren't words.