Hebrew Poetry Analysis¶

Analysis of Biblical Hebrew poetry using the MACULA Hebrew WLC data, including cantillation accent-based cola splitting, parallel word pair detection, parallelism type classification, chiasm detection, acrostic detection, and meter analysis.

The Etnahta (U+0591) marks the primary A/B cola division; Zaqef/Revia may add a C-colon. Classic parallel word pairs (heavens/earth, mouth/lips, wisdom/knowledge) are detected automatically across the poetry books.

Sections:

1. Verse Cola Analysis (print_verse_analysis)
2. Parallel Word Pairs
3. Parallelism Type Statistics
4. Chiasm Detection
5. Acrostic Detection
6. Meter Analysis

In [ ]:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '../../../src')

import warnings
warnings.filterwarnings('ignore')

import pandas as pd
pd.set_option('display.max_rows', 60)
pd.set_option('display.max_columns', 20)
pd.set_option('display.width', 120)

print('Ready.')

import sys sys.path.insert(0, '../../../src') import warnings warnings.filterwarnings('ignore') import pandas as pd pd.set_option('display.max_rows', 60) pd.set_option('display.max_columns', 20) pd.set_option('display.width', 120) print('Ready.')

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1. Verse Cola Analysis¶

The poetry module splits Hebrew poetic verses into cola (half-lines) using the cantillation accent system embedded in the Masoretic Text. The Etnahta (U+0591) marks the primary A/B division; Zaqef/Revia may add a C-colon.

Classic parallel word pairs detected automatically: חׇכְמָה/דַּעַת (wisdom/knowledge), מֶלֶךְ/רָזַן (kings/rulers), פֶּה/שָׂפָה (mouth/lips), שָׁמַיִם/אָרֶץ (heavens/earth).

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_verse_analysis

# Psalm 19:2 — "The heavens declare the glory of God
#               / and the firmament shows his handiwork"
print_verse_analysis('Psa', 19, 2)

from bible_grammar import print_verse_analysis # Psalm 19:2 — "The heavens declare the glory of God # / and the firmament shows his handiwork" print_verse_analysis('Psa', 19, 2)

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# Proverbs 10:1 — classic antithetic parallelism
print_verse_analysis('Pro', 10, 1)

# Proverbs 10:1 — classic antithetic parallelism print_verse_analysis('Pro', 10, 1)

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# Psalm 1:1 — three-colon staircase (walk/stand/sit)
print_verse_analysis('Psa', 1, 1)

# Psalm 1:1 — three-colon staircase (walk/stand/sit) print_verse_analysis('Psa', 1, 1)

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2. Parallel Word Pairs¶

Parallel word pairs are the building blocks of Hebrew parallelism. Content words from the A-colon and B-colon are paired and aggregated across a book to identify the most formulaic pairings. Proverbs and Psalms have distinctive pair inventories.

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_book_pairs

# Most frequent A/B parallel word pairs in Proverbs
print_book_pairs('Pro', top_n=25, min_count=2)

from bible_grammar import print_book_pairs # Most frequent A/B parallel word pairs in Proverbs print_book_pairs('Pro', top_n=25, min_count=2)

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# Most frequent parallel word pairs in Psalms
print_book_pairs('Psa', top_n=25, min_count=3)

# Most frequent parallel word pairs in Psalms print_book_pairs('Psa', top_n=25, min_count=3)

---

3. Parallelism Type Statistics¶

Three main types of parallelism in Hebrew poetry:

• Synonymous — A and B say roughly the same thing
• Antithetic — A and B express contrasting ideas (dominant in Proverbs)
• Synthetic — B completes, specifies, or extends A

Proverbs is famous for its antithetic parallelism (righteous vs. wicked); Psalms leans more toward synonymous.

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_parallelism_stats

# Parallelism type distribution in Proverbs
print_parallelism_stats('Pro')

from bible_grammar import print_parallelism_stats # Parallelism type distribution in Proverbs print_parallelism_stats('Pro')

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# Parallelism type distribution in Psalms
print_parallelism_stats('Psa')

# Parallelism type distribution in Psalms print_parallelism_stats('Psa')

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# Compare parallelism profiles across the major poetry books
# (slow — scans all verses in each book)
# from bible_grammar import compare_poetry_books
# df = compare_poetry_books(['Psa', 'Pro', 'Job'])
# print(df.to_string())
print("Uncomment to compare all three books (takes ~1 min)")

# Compare parallelism profiles across the major poetry books # (slow — scans all verses in each book) # from bible_grammar import compare_poetry_books # df = compare_poetry_books(['Psa', 'Pro', 'Job']) # print(df.to_string()) print("Uncomment to compare all three books (takes ~1 min)")

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4. Chiasm Detection¶

Identifies A B ... B' A' mirror structure across a verse range using lemma-level Jaccard similarity between mirrored verse pairs. Psalm 8 is often cited as a chiasm (A=v1, B=vv2-4, X=v5, B'=vv6-7, A'=vv8-9).

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_chiasm

# Psalm 8 — often cited as a chiasm
print_chiasm('Psa', 8, 1, 9)

# Psalm 23 — 6-verse chiasm candidate
print_chiasm('Psa', 23, 1, 6)

from bible_grammar import print_chiasm # Psalm 8 — often cited as a chiasm print_chiasm('Psa', 8, 1, 9) # Psalm 23 — 6-verse chiasm candidate print_chiasm('Psa', 23, 1, 6)

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5. Acrostic Detection¶

Checks whether successive verses begin with successive Hebrew alphabet letters. Works for full acrostics (Lamentations 1–4, Psalm 25, 34, 111, 112, 145) and stanza acrostics (Psalm 119: 8 verses per letter = 22 stanzas × 8 = 176 verses).

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_acrostic

# Lamentations 1 — full 22-letter acrostic
print_acrostic('Lam', 1, 1, 22)

# Psalm 25 — another full acrostic
print_acrostic('Psa', 25, 1, 22)

from bible_grammar import print_acrostic # Lamentations 1 — full 22-letter acrostic print_acrostic('Lam', 1, 1, 22) # Psalm 25 — another full acrostic print_acrostic('Psa', 25, 1, 22)

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# Psalm 119 — stanza acrostic: 8 verses per letter (22 stanzas x 8 = 176 verses)
print_acrostic('Psa', 119, 1, 176, stanza_size=8)

# Psalm 119 — stanza acrostic: 8 verses per letter (22 stanzas x 8 = 176 verses) print_acrostic('Psa', 119, 1, 176, stanza_size=8)

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6. Meter Analysis¶

Estimates stress count per colon using content-word counting (heuristic qinah 3+2 detection). Syllable counts are based on vowel-point counting in the MT. The classic qinah meter (3+2) is the dirge pattern found throughout Lamentations.

In [ ]:

from bible_grammar import print_verse_meter, print_meter_stats

# Lamentations 1:1 — the classic qinah 3+2 dirge pattern
print_verse_meter('Lam', 1, 1)

# Meter distribution across all of Lamentations
print_meter_stats('Lam')

from bible_grammar import print_verse_meter, print_meter_stats # Lamentations 1:1 — the classic qinah 3+2 dirge pattern print_verse_meter('Lam', 1, 1) # Meter distribution across all of Lamentations print_meter_stats('Lam')

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# Meter distribution across Psalms (slow — scans all ~2461 verses)
# print_meter_stats('Psa')
print("Uncomment to analyze all Psalms meter (takes ~1 min)")

# Meter distribution across Psalms (slow — scans all ~2461 verses) # print_meter_stats('Psa') print("Uncomment to analyze all Psalms meter (takes ~1 min)")