Synopsis:

This book explores the little-regarded phenomenon of the tricolon in biblical Hebrew poetry, that is, those poetic lines that appear to have a tripartite form rather than the more common bipartite form.

Taking the Psalms of Ascents as a sample corpus of poetic texts, it identifies tricola on an explicit and consistent basis. It draws on the rhythmical-accentual approach of Eduard Sievers, and in so doing highlights an important but neglected aspect of his method. The concept of a "para-tricolon" is developed, designating a line that is tripartite, yet rhythmically equivalent to a...