Читать книгу Old Testament Lore - Norman M. Chansky - Страница 7

The lure and lore of The Old Testament is magnetic. The aim of this book of poetry is to draw the reader to its lodestone. Extracting the universal essences of that holy book, this collection of poems maps the journey into the spine and soul of the people of The Old Testament as they grew up. Imagine that we gather at the base of the mystical Mount Sinai, rampart against idolatry. Overhead is a canopy of sundry inspired images, rhymes, and rhythms. All sacred; all hallowed. Stitched into that canopy is a rich saga of a people struggling to remain alive, to achieve some semblance of dignity, and to transmit God’s Message from the holy mount. Resisting memory’s urge to fade and forget, the words of the Old Testament live on, electrify, intrigue, and enchant us with their grandeur. Old Testament Lore accesses treasured biblical sagas through poesy. It does not retell history but it imaginatively renders the biblical narrative. Included herein are poems that ignite mystery and awe since the dawn of Creation. Witness the struggles, feats, foibles, sapience, and ardor of Adam and his descendants, including Noah and Abraham and their lines, during halcyon and stormy times. Plumb the words of the poets and prophets. Sing their songs.

Most of the poems in this work were prompted by books of the Jewish canon: The Pentateuch, Prophets, and the Writings. A few poems were inspired by the Apocrypha, writings in the Old Testament style, which are sacred to some faith communities but not all. The four chapters in this collection correspond to the above cited four books. In writing the poems I used a number of styles found in Biblical texts: rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, metonymy, simile, and parallelism. The plan of this collection is to begin poems with my liberal adaptation of a Biblical reference in italics.

Readers are invited to view the biblical narrative through my lens and reflect them through their prism. The Bible is like a kaleidoscope, a treasure trove of many shapes and colors wandering about in a cylinder, in arrangements that captivate, in patterns which fascinate, reflecting motifs geometric, harmonious and symmetric. No matter the design one beholds, a people of beauty poignantly unfolds.

Norman M. Chansky, PhD