Sunday, October 13, 2013

Next meeting this Tuesday, October 15

Hi everyone -- we'll be meeting again this Tuesday, and pressing on to chapter 4 and possibly chapter 5 of the Song of Songs.  Chapter 4 uses a traditional form of love poetry that in the Arabic tradition is called the wasf -- in the western tradition it's called a "blason", and was popular in the medieval and Renaissance period.  If you want to get a look at examples of this tradition in English, you can find a couple at http://www.units.muohio.edu/visualrhetoric/blason.html  .  Reading this might help give us a feel for how this poetry might have sounded to the original audience of the Song of Songs and we can talk about how it might relate to the deeper themes of the Scriptural story we've been telling about, as well as our own experiences of love and relationship.   As usual, we'll be seeing how many places this poetry can take us.  I hope to see many of you on Tuesday!