Background
The books classified as poetical are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and also Lamentations. Poetical passages are also found elsewhere in the Old Testament (compare Exodus 15:1-21; Judges 5; and extensive portions of the prophetic writings, for example, Micah). Because these books portray the experiences of the people of God, their range is as wide as that of life itself. In them inspiration clothes human experience with a universal quality that has brought comfort, strength, and guidance to countless believers down through the ages.

Poetic Structure
The basis of Hebrew poetry is parallelism of thought. Rhythm is not achieved by similarity of sound, as in rhymed verse, or by metrical accent, as in blank verse (although Hebrew poetry is not entirely without accent), but chiefly by the repetition, contrast, and elaboration of ideas.
Thus, when the thoughts are essentially the same, the parallelism is called synonymous; for example,
Show me your ways, 0 LORD; teach me your paths (Psalm 25:4).
When the thoughts are contrasting, the parallelism is called antithetic; for example,
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous: but the way of the wicked will perish (Psalm 1:6).
When the primary thought is developed and enriched, the parallelism is called synthetic; for example,
You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety (Job 11:18).

By no means, however, does all Hebrew poetry fit precisely into these three categories; the matching and development of thought show wide and subtle variety through such means as triple and quadruple parallels, inversions, alternating lines, and refrains. The Hebrew vocabulary is powerfully vivid, and Old Testament poetry is studded with figures of speech like personification, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and alliteration. There are also certain structural devices, including stanzas and, as in the whole of Psalm 119 and in Lamentations, acrostic patterns. Finally, Hebrew poetry may be classified under the broader heads of lyric, dramatic, and didactic expression.

Wisdom Literature
Three of the poetical books-Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes-together with certain of the Psalms, such as Psalms 1, 10, 14,19,37,90, stand among the foremost examples of wisdom literature. This term means that this form of Hebrew literature struggles not only with practical problems of life as in Proverbs, but also with great moral and spiritual questions like the prosperity of the wicked (compare Psalm 37), materialism, fatalism, and pessimism (compare Ecclesiastes), and the suffering of the righteous (compare Job). In their clear-sighted practicality the wisdom books are far removed from speculative philosophy. Reflecting everyday living, they at the same time look up to the one true God. Their emphasis upon God's wisdom (for example, Proverbs 8:22ff.) helped prepare for the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, "who has become for us wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30), "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), and who said of Himself, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).