Flashes of Fire: A Literary Analysis of the Song of Songs

The essence of true love is in the yearning not in the consummation.

This literary analysis of the Song of Songs employs the methods of New Criticism. Each analysis aims to uncover the messages conveyed by the poems and the inner world of the characters. The analysis brings to the fore the highly sophisticated and the original creativity of the love poetry of the Song of Songs. In the introduction, the question is posed as to whether the Song of Songs is an anthology or one literary whole. After discussing the strengths and weakness of the various approaches, the author proposes a novel structure for the Book predicated on the various genres of the love poems.

Assis discerns poems of physical description, poems of adoration, and poems of yearning. In addition, he discerns what he takes to be a previously unrecognized genre, poems of rendezvous - a new structure which is based on a psychological understanding of passionate love is now discovered.

One of the undisputed dominant features of passionate love is the longing for union with the beloved. Based on this premise, the book is divided into five sections, each of which ends with an attempt to unite or in a union. The structure of the book reflects an emotional and inner development in the psyche of the lovers and in the relationship between them. Throughout the book the interrelationships between the various genres of the love poems, and the development of the characters is spelled out

• Table of Contents
• The Unity of the Book: Song or Songs?
• The Poems
• The Superscription (1:1)
• Unit I: (1:2-8): The Initial Courtship
  • 1. May he kiss me - The Woman's Poem of Yearning (1:2-4)
  • 2. The Keeper of the Vineyards - A Poem by the Woman describing Herself (1:5-6)
  • 3. The Most Beautiful of Women - The Woman's attempt to make a Rendezvous with the Man, and Man's Refusal (1:7-8)
  • An Overview of the First Unit - 1:2-7
• Unit II: 1:9 - 2:17: The Second Courtship
  • 1. Pharaoh's chariots - The Man's Poem of Adoration and the Woman's Response in a Poem of Yearning (1:9-11 and 1:12-14)
  • 2. Our bed is verdant - A Poem of Mutual Adoration by the Man and the Woman (1:15 - 2:3) .
  • 3. I am faint with love - The Woman's Poem of Yearning (2:4-7)
  • 4. Turn, my beloved - The Man's attempt to make a Rendezvous and the Woman's refusal (2:8-17)
  • Overview of the Unit II - 1:9 - 2:17
• Unit III: 3:1 - 5:1 - The Climax
  • 1. The watchmen found me - The Woman's Poem of Yearning in a Dream (3:1- 5)
  • 2. Myrrh and Frankincense - An Introduction to the Poem "Until the day breathes" (3:6)
  • 3. The Solomon's Bed and Palanquin Poem (3:7-11)
  • 4. Until the day breathes - A Poem describing the Woman (4:1-7)
  • 5. The Rendezvous Poem (4:8-5:1)
  • Overview of Unit III - 3:1 - 5:1
• Unit IV: The Ebbing of Love (5:2 - 6:3)
  • 1. I sought him, but did not find him - The Woman's Poem of Yearning in a Dream (5:2-8)
  • 2. My beloved is all radiant - A Poem in which the Woman describes the Man to the Daughters of Jerusalem (5:9-16)
  • 3. Where has your beloved gone? - A Poem in which the Daughters of Jerusalem tease the Woman about the Man's absence, and the Woman's response (6:1-3)
  • Overview of Unit IV
• Unit V, 6:4 - 8:14 - Resolution
  • 1. Turn away your eyes from me - A Poem in which the Man describes the Woman (6:4-10)
  • 2. The Nut Garden - A description of a past love experience (6:11-12)
  • 3. Return, O Shulammite! - The Man's description of the Woman ending with his Desire for Her (7:1-10 [6:13-7:9)
  • 4. I am my beloved's - The Woman's Poem of Yearning (7:11[10]-8:5)
  • 5. Flashes of Fire - A Poem in Celebration of Love (8:6-7)
  • 6. We have a little sister - The Brothers taunt the Woman and her Response (8:8-10)
  • 7. He gave the vineyard to keepers - A Description of the Woman's Vineyard in contrast to Solomon's Vineyard: A Poem in Praise of Love (8:11-12)
  • 8. Flee, my beloved - The Man's attempt to make a Rendezvous and the Woman's refusal (8:13-14)
  • Overview of Unit V
• Summary
• Bibliography
• List of Abbreviations