Lamentations 1-5 contains five poems each of which is exquisitely structured according to the length rule and the general rule as presented in my initial post, "Retaining and Transcending the Classical Description of Ancient Hebrew Verse."
The study of verse in terms of prosodic constituents and hierarchies is a preoccupation of more than one school of linguists. In this essay, I undertake an analysis of Lam 1-5 within the framework of the prosodic structure hypothesis first developed by Elisabeth Selkirk.
The terminology used in this essay will be unfamiliar to many. A glossary of key terms is provided at essay's conclusion. The post entitled "Glossary and Definitions" is more extensive. As of November 2006, Lam 1 but not Lam 2-5 is included in the posted corpus.
For those who do not know Hebrew, the transcription and translation I offer of Lam 1:1-7 may help imagine the prosody of the text in the original. A transcription of Lam 1:1-7 is found in the body of the essay. The translation in a notation free format is found in the separate file listed below.
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