CRITICISM AND INTERPRETATION 223
the soundness of his application of his system
to Hebrew narratives?
It must suffice at this point to recall some
positions previously reached: in parallelistic
poetry the lines are in general well defined, and
where there is much parallelism of terms the
limits of the lines are certain; to secure a
rhythmical balance, or other relation, which
would be immediately perceived between these
parallel lines, a far greater elasticity could safely
be given to the rhythmical foot than if a really
perceptible rhythm were to be imparted to a
long passage in which there were no regularly
recurring pauses. Even after an examination
of 'Sievers' attempt to extend so greatly the
amount of metrical composition in the Old Tes-
tament, it seems to me possible and useful to
return to parallelistic poetry and to insist (1) that
this consists primarily of distichs; (2) that these
distichs fall into two broad classes according as
the second line balances or echoes the first;
and (3) that the lines of these distichs can also
be more accurately classified according to the
number of the stressed words that they contain.
The uncertainties in dealing with parallelistie
poetry arise rather when we raise these questions :
Must a single type of distich be maintained
throughout the same poem? if not, what types
and what extent of variation are permitted?
Again, are all poems strophically arranged, and