Analysis Of The Book Of Lamentations By Elie Assis

The book of Lamentations is a poetic work with a distinct structure and literary aspects. In “The Unity of the Book of Lamentations,” Elie Assis states the initial layout of the book of Lamentations as being five works of poetry. The context of these poems is mourning the destruction of the city of Jerusalem around 587 B.C.E. (“The Unity of the Book of Lamentations”). The first four poems feature a complete version of acrostic poetry, which is explained in “The Alphabetic Acrostic in the Book of Lamentations,” also authored by Assis. This style is noteworthy particularly for its meticulous nature, because of the first four poems, “Each poem has twenty-two verses: in chaps. 1, 2, and 3 there are three lines in each stanza; in chap. 4, two lines;

Bo Johnson in “Form and Message in Lamentations points out that each section plays a significant role in the telling of this great tragedy. To begin, chapter one starts off by tell the details of the destruction of Jerusalem by a third person source then by Jerusalem, who is ascribed as being a woman (Johnson). Upon the conclusion of a message by Jerusalem concerning the knowledge Jerusalem has about her sinning and how she has been brought low, she prays, which acts as a transition point to a newer perspective (Johnson). The second half of chapter states that this destruction occurred because of God and that is was God’s will, and the author describes the aforementioned destruction yet now in this perspective (Johnson). Verses 14 and 15 states this idea; they read, “He caused my strength to fail” and “He summoned an assembly against me.” Johnson states that the two halves can be understood as the first being the factual, proven part, and the second in the interpretation that what had occurred was done by God because the people were sinners (Johnson). The beginning chapter of Laminations describes the events surrounding destruction of

It is musically written to have a crescendo then a diminuendo, which points to the skilled nature of the writer. The fourth chapter reiterates the sins committed by the Israelites and how God acted out of anger for them, yet the notion of hope that God’s punishment, which came in the form of feminine, has ended is evident (Johnson). Johnson says of this hope, “Hence there is now hope of a future” (70). While chapter four recounts the same notions of wrath and suffering, a new theme of hope is