SOURCE: “Lamentations,” in The Poetry of the Old Testament, Duckworth, 1947, pp. 205-16.

In the following excerpt, Robinson discusses the general characteristics of the verses in Lamentations, their varying levels of emotional intensity, and their probable order of composition.

We have already seen something of what a “dirge” meant in the ancient world. Originally, no doubt, a funeral spell intended to keep the dead in his place and prevent him from annoying the living, it gradually developed into a genuine expression of the grief felt by survivors at the loss of one whom they loved. We may suppose that there were traditional and conventional formulae which would serve both purposes, and we gather from such a passage as Jer. 9:17 ff. that there was a recognized profession, composed of women, who went through a regular course of training in their work. They had to know the right words which would...