The Book of Psalms

Posts

  • Psalm 4

    (director: with strings, lyric, of David) * * * Like all lyrics and lyric poetry, Psalm 4 invites readers both to participate and to observe. I can just watch— overhear— the first-person and second-person exchanges. Or I can identify by turns and degrees with the I, the we, the singular and plural you. It’s a Read more

  • Psalm 3

    (lyric, of David, fleeing Absalom his son) * * * Psalm 3 turns from national theater to individual lament, but keeps the siege psychology and the fantasy of revenge. In Psalm 2, machinations were primarily verbal, the seemingly whispered conspiring of kings and prisoners’ groans, met by the Lord’s dismissive laughter and speech-acts. In this Read more

  • Psalm 2

    * * * Classed by scholars as a royal psalm, a coronation hymn, Psalm 2 centers, in verses 6-9, on a performative exchange of voices. The Lord speaks. The king speaks. The king quotes the Lord. In the process, the Lord inaugurates, the king confirms, and the king reports the Lord’s private speech. The psalm Read more

  • Psalm 1

    * * * Psalm 1 Poems that preach feel filmy. They have a residue. From what seat does a writer sit in judgment on me? “We hate literature that has a palpable design on us,” Keats writes, though neurotics tend to think we deserve some scolding; authoritarians think we do, too. Iconoclasts and adolescents, played Read more