ENGL 340
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Psalms and Ecclesiastes

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. As you read Job, think about what Hebrew poetry is like.  Think about form.  What patterns do you see in terms of the way in which Job's poetry is constructed?  What determines a line of poetry?  What is the relationship between one line and another?  When and how do major transitions and shifts in content occur (from one section of a poem to another)
2. As you read Job, think about what Hebrew poetry is like.  Think about image, metaphor, and figurative language.  What are the common images and metaphors in Job?  How do they compare to the common images, metaphors, and figurative language in other Hebrew poetry?
3. As you read Job, think about what Hebrew poetry is like.  Think about genre.  What genre is Job?  What kind of poem or poems?  How does Job compare to other Hebrew poetry we have read?
4. As you read Job, think about Hebrew philosophy.  How does the writer of Job view the world?  How does he view human nature (positively, negatively, optimistically, pessimistically)?  When faced with mortality, how does Hebrew philosophy respond?  How does Hebrew philosophy deal with the fact that bad things happen to good people?  How does Job compare to Ecclesiastes?  Is Job a satisfactory answer to all the philosophical issues that Hebrew philosophy raises?  Why or why not?

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