Lamentations 3 takes the acrostic nature of these poems a step further than the others.
Not only do we have the twenty-two stanzas
corresponding to the Hebrew alphabet,
but each stanza itself has three lines sharing that same initial letter.
In contrast to the first and second poems which are voiced by Daughter Zion
and reflect a woman's perspective of the effects of war and siege,
this poem is strongly masculine in perspective.
Indeed its opening words would be best translated as "I am the man",
from the male-specific Hebrew geber.[27] This recurs in verses 27, 35 and 39.[28]
Structurally, while the acrostic tends to produce its own grouping
within acrostic boundaries,
observe how particular thoughts may have their own
counter-grouping cutting across these boundaries.
An early, clear example is at 12–13 where the bow-and-arrow
crosses the D/E acrostic boundary.
This "enjambment" of ideas and images across the alphabetic boundaries
is a counterweight to the formal structuring of the acrostic,
and this keeps the poem moving forwards.[29] See also 3–4, 15–16, 42–44, 45–47 and 48–51.
A similar change of thought happens between 58 and 59 within the 'W' stanza.
And it is within a single verse, at 42,
that perhaps the most abrupt change of direction happens.
Just when the poet is on the brink of regaining his confidence,
the vision of fragile hope is shattered and evaporates:
"But you did not forgive".
Like a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky,
scything through the verse
and cutting apart the established Deuteronomic pattern of "we repent; God will forgive":
"But you did not forgive".[30] This may be the most disturbing idea in the chapter, and in the entire book.[31]
There are many,
especially in my own tradition,
the protestant regions of the western Christian faith,
who magnify and exalt the hopeful passage of 3:22–39,
even to the point of hermetically isolating it from the stark images of the rest of the poems;
we tend to attach notions such as "central", "focus" and "highlight"
to verses in this small passage in this third chapter.
But it seems useful, verging on essential,
to recognise that this
"grand statement of hope stands at the centre of the work as a whole
but not as the focal point [emphasis mine]
because it exists in tension
with the portraits of human suffering…in
the more negative images of the material."[32] So if we really want a retain the notion of a single point of highlight,
then we should instead look to the fifth, final chapter as most important,
whose communal voice, singly expressed, plays a vital role.[33]
As if to support this,
"there are a number of places in 3:25–39
where the [Hebrew] syntax is convoluted and even problematic.…
One effect…is
to disrupt…the ease and forthrightness
of the poetry's meaning at this point,
to slow down the reading process
and to require our closer attention.
Dissonance thus enters the poetry's message"[34] at precisely the solitary point where hope is expressed.
The syntax of this new version attempts to reflect this.
Similarly, the intensely ordered form of the triple acrostic in the man's outward speech
is strikingly at odds with the ambiguity riddling his interior response.[35]
Several commentators see in the first few verses a sort of "anti-psalm"
to the well-known Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd".[36]
(Hover the mouse over verses 1–3 to see the text of the psalm.)
Voices
Like the earlier two poems, this may also be seen as being in two primary "voices":
an individual geber (1–24 and 40–66) and a narrator (25–39).[37] Or, using a slightly different break-point, 22–39 may be viewed as a "Wisdom" section, reflecting on the nature of God.[38] That said, it might be noticed that the voice in 40–47 is in plural, communal form.[39]
But is the solo speaker of 52–66 necessarily the geber of the opening?
The content is quite different.
There is a long rabbinic tradition of construing the speaker here as "Bat-Ami":
a representative of the city, although not Daughter Zion herself.[40]
