Style and structure in prophetic rhetoric: Isaiah 2-12

Building on the recent studies in Hebrew poetry and on continuing work in "rhetorical criticism" (following Muilenburg), the dissertation develops a method of poetic analysis and applies it to Isaiah 2-12 as an example of prophetic rhetoric within a complex literary corpus. The study demonstrates that especially the factor of length as measured by counting stresses, words, and most accurately, syllables, serves as a major feature of poetry and of prophetic rhetoric. By analyzing the length of individual building blocks, from the individual colon to the larger sections, the study shows these units to function as indicators of structural symmetry and balance of both parts and whole. Specifically, the dissertation asserts that the eight-syllable, three-stress colon is a basic building block of Hebrew poetry, and that it functions as a norm which also controls a large degree of divergence and variation. Therefore, "meter" as a measurable feature of length, must be considered as component of Hebrew poetry. Prose particle counts indicate that much of prophetic rhetoric falls between the categories of poetry and prose, although many of the characteristics of poetry dominate. Structural analysis of verses, strophes, stanzas, and larger sections establishes relationships among the various components of the literary corpus, using the two units in Is. 5: 8-25 and 9: 7-10: 4 as a starting point. Each of these two poems demonstrates its own integrity and independence, yet they complement one another by the interlocking of thematic and structural interdependence. Furthermore, they are shown to be exactly the same length. Finally, the study reveals a simple and sophisticated compositional plan to the whole of Is. 2-12, based on a scheme of 800 eight-syllable lines. As 5: 8-25 and 9: 7-10: 4 form a unifying circle around the intervening material, the larger sections on either side of the Isaianic Denkschrift, 2: 1-5: 30 and 8: 19-12: 6, correspond not only in the use of structural devices and thematic motifs but also in the fact that they are the same length, carefully crafted around the so-called Book of Immanuel, whose name lies exactly at the statistical and thematic center of Isaiah 2-12.