Source:Rediscovering the Book of Mormon:Ch:10:2:Poetry:Psalm of Nephi

Poetry in the Book of Mormon text: Poetic Features of the Psalm of Nephi

Poetry in the Book of Mormon text: Poetic Features of the Psalm of Nephi

A fine example of strength and lyricism in Book of Mormon poetry may be found in the following segment of what has been called the Psalm of Nephi (see 2 Nephi 4:15-35). (In this and subsequent poems, the line arrangement is mine.)

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.

Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

Do not anger again because of mine enemies.

Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say:

O Lord, I will praise thee forever;

yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul?

Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies?

Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin?

May the gates of hell be shut continually before me,

because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite!

O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me,

that I may walk in the path of the low valley,

that I may be strict in the plain road!

O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!

(vv. 28-33a)

The dominant poetic feature of the Psalm of Nephi is parallelism. An idea expressed in one line is completed, amplified, contrasted, or reversed in the subsequent line or lines. Both completion and contrast are evident in these lines:

He hath filled me with his love,

even unto the consuming of my flesh.

He hath confounded mine enemies,

unto the causing of them to quake before me.

(vv. 21-22)

The second line completes the thought begun in the first line; similarly, the fourth line completes the third. Taken together, the third and fourth lines contrast with the first two lines.

Contrast with intensification is found in the next verse:

Behold, he hath heard my cry by day,

and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime.

(v. 23)

"Nighttime" contrasts with "day." The intensification comes in the greater detail communicated in the second line where the Lord's response to Nephi's cry is identified.

Both opposition and repetition of an idea in reverse order are found in these lines. (Here and in all subsequent passages, italics are mine, to clarify the parallels.)

Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way— but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy. (v. 33)

Intensification of thought and feeling are especially evident in the following lines. Here two kinds of movement (travel through the wilderness and then over the ocean) are expressed. These are joined with increasing divine aid—from "support," through "leading," to "preservation":

My God hath been my support;

he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness;

and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

(v. 20)

The next passage illustrates inverted parallelism or chiasmus (literally, a crossing). The subjects of the phrases in chiasmus are basically reversed in order in the second half. The impact of line 1 is amplified in line 3; the words "soul" and "heart" are returned to in reverse order in lines 7 and 9. "Sin" (l. 2), which is the "enemy of my soul" (l. 4), is replaced with their opposites, the "Lord" (l. 8) and "God" (l. 10). While in lines 1 through 4 Nephi's appeals to the soul and heart are accompanied by advice on what not to do—"no longer droop," "give place no more"—the mirror use of heart and soul in lines 7 through 10 tells what should be done—"rejoice," "praise." These sandwich the center two lines (5 and 6) of commanding oneself not to falter.

1 Awake, my soul!

2 No longer droop in sin.

3 Rejoice, O my heart,

4 and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.

5 Do not anger again because of mine enemies.

6 Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.

7 Rejoice, O my heart,

8 and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever;

9 yea, my soul will rejoice in thee,

10 my God, and the rock of my salvation.

(vv. 28-30)

Each of the features we have seen is characteristic of poetry found in the Old Testament.