The Song also affirms, albeit, that humans consist of more than mere bodies.
Francis Landy (2007), University of Alberta, notes in his review of "Song of Songs," by Richard S. Hess, that Hess intentionally writes with his conservative audience in mind. "He assumes a context of married love for the Song, while recognizing that this is never made explicit: 'the erotic love of the couple does not lie outside the bounds of marriage but is integral to it" (Hess, quoted in Landy, ¶ 2). Hess resists direct sexual interpretations, for instance of 5:4-5 as a euphemistic description of intercourse, pointing out that "the whole point of the passage is the failure of the couple to reach and touch each other."
Tremper Longman (2001) points out in Song of Songs that, according to the Bible, the relationship between a husband and wife reflects the most intimate of all possible human relationships. Longman considers the Song of Songs "to be a timeless celebration of human love and sexuality" (Book Overview section). As Longman unpacks Song of Songs for contemporary readers, he relates "what this ancient love poem says about the male-female relationship - and, by analogy, about God's love for his people" (Ibid). Despite its abbreviated length of only eight chapters, Song of Songs, one of the shortest books in the Bible, richly reflects insight into the relationship of love. The researcher agrees that in both the figurative, as well as the literal sense, the union so poignantly mirrored in Song of Songs surpasses all others.
The twenty three poems in Song of Songs include the following:
The Woman's Pursuit (1:2-4)
Poem Two: Dark, but Beautiful (1:5-6)
Poem Three: An Invitation to a Tryst (1:7-8)
Poem Four: A Beautiful Mare (1:9-I I)
Poem Five: Intimate Fragrances (1:12-14)
Poem Six: Outdoor Love (1:15-17)
Poem Seven: Flowers and Trees (2:1-7)
Poem Eight: A Poem of Spring (2:8-17)
(Longman, pp. 8-9)
WORKS CITED
Cunningham, Lawrence S. "Religion Booknotes (Letters to a Young Catholic, The
Church's Bible, The Song of Songs, Behind Closed Doors: A History of Papal Elections,
Dorothy Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her )" Commonweal Foundation. (2005).
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Landy, Francis. "Song of Songs." Shofar. University of Nebraska Press. (2007). HighBeam
Research. 9 July 2009 .
Linafelt, Tod. "Song of Songs." Interpretation. (2007). HighBeam Research. 9 July 2009 .
Longman, Tremper. Song of Songs. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans (2001). 9 July 2009 .
Robinson, Anthony B.. "Singing of sex." The Christian Century. The Christian Century Foundation. 2004. HighBeam Research. 9 July 2009 .
Virkar, Aakanksha J. "Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Song of Songs." Victorian Poetry 45.2 (2007). 195+. Questia. 9 July 2009 .
