132 FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY
wherewith to distinguish these differences when
we wish to refer to them. But if we get thus far,
it further becomes clear that, if we admit the
prevalence in Lamentations iv. of a clearly
defined rhythm fit to receive a name of its own,
whether or not the name kinah by which this
rhythm commonly goes be the best term to
define it, then Lamentations v. and Job xxviii.
also have, though a different, yet a no less clearly
defined rhythm whether we give it a name or
not; and of course, if we wish to discuss the
subject, we must find some convenient way of
referring to this rhythm no less than to the other.
To distinguish these two broad classes of
clearly distinguished types of rhythm I have
suggested the terms balancing rhythm and echoing
rhythm.^1 This terminology seems to me free
from some of the objections which attach to the
term kinah as a term for the echoing rhythm,
even if we could discover a good companion
term to kinah to describe the other type. As I
pointed out in the last chapter, kinah rhythm is
really a rather ambiguous term, meaning either
the total rhythmical effect of a poem in which a
particular echoing rhythm is prevalent, or that
particular echoing rhythm even though it be
confined to a single line or period. And one
serious disadvantage of the term kinah rhythm
lies in the ease with which it obscures the fact
1 Isaiah ("International Critical Commentary"), i. p. lxiii.