Lamentations: Reading and recitation

Qinah de-mystified

The 3–2 qinah rhythm is vital to the first four chapters.

If you have ever recited nursery rhymes, or heard kids excitedly calling them out in the playground, then you already know how to do it. Here are some well-known examples and their respective rhythms. This first is in 4–3: in each line-pair the first line has four strong beats ("Ma-", "Ma-", "quite", "-tra-"), and the second has three strong beats ("how", "gar-", "grow"):

	Ma	ry,	Ma	ry,	quite	con	tra	ry,
	how	does your	gar	den	grow?
With	sil	ver	bells	and	coc	kle	shells,
and	pret	ty maids	all	in a	row.

rhythm (line-pairs): 4–3, 4–3

This second is in 4–4: in each line-pair, both have four strong beats.

	Hush	little	ba	by,	don't	say a	word,
	Ma	ma's gonna	buy	you a	mock	ing	bird.
And	if	that	mock	ing	bird	don't	sing,
	Ma	ma's gonna	buy	you a	dia	mond	ring.

rhythm (line-pairs): 4–4, 4–4

The rhythm is maintained and the varying number of words simply slot naturally into place. But that said, don't be too rigid about it; give it natural fluidity.

Here are the opening verses from this rendering of Lamentations 3 in its characteristic 3–2 qinah rhythm:

	Ag	onies:	I	am the man	seared
by the	rod	of his	wrath;
A	way—	me he	drove,	force-	marched
in	dark	ness, no	light;
A	gainst	me, he	turns	his	hand
from	day-	dawn to	dusk;

rhythm (line-pairs): 3–2, 3–2, 3–2

And in the final chapter, where 3–2 qinah is largely replaced by 3–3, although not entirely so, a sense of rhythm is still entirely appropriate.

Recurring theme words and phrases

Be alert to particular words that recur. A few examples:

The opening "Alone she sits…" (1:1) is picked up at the centre "Lonesome let him sit…" then returns and is reflected in the closing "And you, Lord, sit forever…" (5:19).
"Notice" and "look" form a running thread across the chapters, often paired. See the translation notes for further details.
Chapter 1: recurrent "all", which subtly helps establish the "A to Z" totality of the alphabetic acrostic.
Chapter 2: "ground" thread; "pour" thread.
Chapter 4: "disgorge" thread (a continuation of chapter 2's "pour" thread)
Biblical poetry often refers to "hand" and "face".
- "Hand" occurs several times in each chapter.
- "Face", while less common, can nevertheless be particularly important, not least because of the theological association with "the face of God" in the Torah (the foundational first five books of the Bible). See 4:16 and its footnotes.
The word "ravaging" threads through 2:11, 2:13, 3:47, 3:48 and 4:10.
- At 2:11, 3:48 and 4:10 the second half-line is common: "at my Daughter People's ravaging". From the qinah perspective this would ideally have just two strong beats: "at my Daughter-People's ravaging".
- At 3:47 each half-line itself has its own alliteration.

(t.b.c.)