Formorethan250years,biblicalHebrewpoetryscholarshiphasbeendominatedbymetricalassumptionsandtheideaofparallelism.Whileaconsensusisemergingthatbiblicalpoetryisnotmetrical,noconsensushasarisenregardingwhatparallelismis,orwhatmakesbiblicalpoetry“verse“or“poetry“intheabsenceofmeter,graphicallineation,andend-markingoflines.UnparalleledPoetryclaimsthatanewparadigmforbiblicalpoetryisneeded,aparadigmthatisdisentangledfromparallelismaswellasmeter.DrawingfromtheCognitivePoeticsworkofReuvenTsur,EmmylouGrosserreorientsthediscussionofbiblicalpoeticstructuretohowpoeticstructurecanbeheardandperceived.Shearguesthattheline-unitsofbiblicalpoetryemergeinthecognitiveexperienceofthelistener/readerandprovidesanaccountofthefree-rhythmversificationsystemofbiblicalpoetry.Grosser’scognitiveapproachtobiblicalpoetryaccountsforthewidediversityoflinesandpoemsintheBibleandilluminatesboththestructuresofbiblicalpoetryandtheartistryofpotentialeffects.UnparalleledPoetrypresentsarewardingnewparadigmforreadersoftheBible,whilemodelingnewpossibilitiesforthestudyofnonmetricalpoetriesandphenomenacalled“parallelism“throughouttheworld.
