Monocola, ambiguity and propositional density : poetic art, technique and rhetoric in Psalm 81

Abstract

Poetry is the richest form of all forms of linguistic expression. Psalm 81 is used here as an example. The psalm constitutes chiefly a speech of God and demonstrates how creative literary techniques can be used in the service of (prophetic) proclamation aimed at “listening to YHWH”. Two monocola are placed at hinge points (vv. 6c and 11c), serving as structural markers. They are associated with indeterminate deictic references so that ambiguity generates multiple readings. Due to intra-textual equivalences and with the catalysing effect of allusions to passages from Deuteronomy, different statements come into play. These include, among other things, the double aspect of filling the mouth or being sated with the word of God and bodily nourishment (vv. 11c and 17ab).